Uganda wants pipeline project with Kenya speeded up as lake transport also picks

UGANDA wants a Memorandum of Understanding and an implementation agreement in place to speed up construction of the proposed Eldoret-Kampala-Kigali refined petroleum products pipeline to ease product movement.

This comes even as investments in oil jetties at Kisumu by Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) and Entebbe by Mahathi Infra Uganda Ltd, pay-off, with increased shipment of petroleum products through Lave Victoria, after being pumped to Kisumu from the Port of Mombasa.

The Lake shipment is being done by barges owned by Mahathi, which pick products from the Sh1.7 billion KPC’s Kisumu Oil Jetty which became operational in 2023, with an initial shipment of 4.5 million litres of fuel products to Uganda.

Energy and Petroleum CS Opiyo Wandayi who on Monday visited the Mahathi Infra jetty and storage facilities said the the Kisumu Oil Jetty (KOJ) has contributed immensely toimproved regional connectivity.

"The use of waterways to reticulate refined petroleum products from the Port City of Kisumu to Entebe has led to the creation of a borderless business situation approximate for regional integration,” he said.

Later, the CS met with Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa, at Petroleum House in Entebbe, where they took stock of the status of fuel supply and developed a plan for sustainability, with the Ugandan leadership noting that implementation of the pipeline project “was taking long to actualise.”

“Let us get things going… let us draft anMOU and an implementation agreement to reduce bureaucracy since our two presidents have already understood and agreed,” Nankabirwa said.

The project is aimed at improving transportation of refined petroleum products from the Western Kenya seamlessly, faster, and in an environmentally friendly manner.

The Eldoret-Kampala-Kigali pipeline project for Refined Petroleum Products Pipeline Development Cluster, under the Northern Corridor Integration Projects conceptualised in 1995, remains vital to addressing challenges of loading refined petroleum products on trucks.

Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda entered into a tripartite agreement to develop the pipeline in 2013.

It was agreed that a common refined petroleum products pipeline was critical for serving the region’s energy needs.

Currently, products are discharged at the Port of Mombasa before being transported by pipeline to Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, and Eldoret depots, with last-mile delivery to the hinterland and other parts of the country being done by trucks and Lake Victoria mainly for transit products to Uganda.

As the push for a pipeline intensify, Kenya is keen to capitalise on lake transport to efficiently move petroleum products to Uganda, with CS Wandayi laudingKenya Pipeline for fostering faster regional integration through infrastructure development.

Wandayi said the introduction of the barges to ferry products has ocassioned a paradigm shift in product availability in Uganda.

Mahathi has since introduced a third barge in Lake Victoria, which moves products between KOJ, located at Kenya Pipeline's 45 million litre-capacity Kisumu depot, and its Entebbe jetty which runs about 270 metres into the lake where it has also put in place storage tanks with a capacity of 70 million litres.

Mahathi plans to have a total of four barges operating in Lake Victoria.

“We are building four (barges) in total as we expand our capacity and enhance lake transport logistics linking the entire East Africa Community region,” the firm told the Star.

CS Wandayi said increased use of lake transport will save the country from road maintenance costs occasioned by destruction of the road pavements, environment pollution and degradation, costly petroleum tanker traffic accidents and create efficiencies that would then be passed on to the end-user.

“One barge transports 6.5 million litres of product equivalent to approximately 150 trucks off the roads. This is beneficial to the county's investment plan,” he said.

Meanwhile, KPC managing director Joe Sang has said the partnership with Mahathi has seen oil majors come on board to use the Kisumu Oil Jetty, ensuring “a handsome return on iinvestment”, disclosing that so far, some 470 million litres of product have been transported across the lake from the jetty since commissioning in 2023.

While Uganda currently imports its own products under a government-to-government deal similar to Kenya, KPC targets to increase handling capacity for exports to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern DRC and parts of Tanzania.

Uganda however remains Kenya’s top export market for imported oil products (super petrol, diesel, kerosene and Jet A 1-aviation fuel).