Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni /FILEUgandan President Yoweri Museveni has credited President William Ruto with helping Uganda secure a new petroleum supply arrangement that he says has significantly reduced the cost of importing fuel.
In his birthday reflections marking his 82nd birthday, Museveni said Uganda had previously been buying petroleum products through middlemen in Kenya before changing its procurement model.
He said the new arrangement, involving Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and a global energy trader, had resulted in lower petroleum import costs.
“I want to thank H.E. Ruto because he prevailed over some actors in Kenya who were trying to resist. That is how we got our new arrangement, and the Kenya Government allows us to pump our products through the Kenya oil pipeline, in which the Kenya Government allowed us to have shares of 20.15 per cent,” he said.
“We are very happy with the Kenyan Government of President Ruto on this matter.”
Museveni said the arrangement followed efforts to change Uganda’s petroleum procurement system after he learnt that the country was buying fuel through Kenyan intermediaries.
He said a Kenyan senator alerted him to the arrangement around 2019, prompting him to task the then Energy Minister Irene Muloni with addressing the issue.
Museveni said the matter was not resolved until 2023, when Uganda linked up with a global energy trader, which he described as a group with refineries in different parts of the world and a bulk supplier.
Under the agreement signed on August 18, 2023, Museveni said Uganda’s petroleum costs were reduced, with the price for diesel falling from $118 to $83 per metric tonne.
The price of petrol dropped from $97.50 to $61.50 per metric tonne, while aviation fuel declined from $114.25 to $79.25.
Museveni said the new arrangement was also supported by Kenya, allowing Uganda to transport its petroleum products through the Kenya oil pipeline.
The changes followed a dispute over Uganda’s long-standing reliance on Kenyan oil marketing companies and intermediaries to procure petroleum products.
In 2024, Kenya and Uganda signed an agreement allowing UNOC to import refined petroleum products directly from producer countries and use Kenya’s infrastructure for their transit.
Uganda has since continued working with the global energy trader to secure petroleum supplies, including sourcing products from alternative markets during disruptions to global supply chains.
Uganda’s government said in May 2026 that UNOC and the global energy trader were securing supplies from West Africa, Europe, India and the Americas amid disruptions linked to the Middle East.
Uganda also holds a 20.15 per cent stake in the Kenya Pipeline Company, with the investment described by Ugandan officials as part of efforts to strengthen energy security and cooperation between the two countries.
Museveni made the remarks in a birthday message in which he called for greater African economic and political integration.
He said integrating the continent’s common market and strengthening political cooperation would help secure Africa’s prosperity and strategic security.
