KENYA, UGANDA HOLD BILATERAL MEETING TO ADDRESS DIRECT EVACUATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS TO UGANDA

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has held a bilateral meeting with its Ugandan counterpart for Energy and Mineral Development to strengthen issues on the importation of refined petroleum products for the Ugandan market.
The meeting was chaired by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) James Opiyo Wandayi EGH and was attended by his Ugandan counterpart Ms Ruth Nankabirwa.
The meeting follows the successful start of direct products imports by the Uganda National Oil Company through the Kenya Ports Authority Kilindini Port in Mombasa,
CS Wandayi and Minister Nakabirwa pledged to ensure good working relations between the two countries and the security of the supply of petroleum products.

During the meeting, the monthly uplifts for the Uganda Market based on the initial joint planning translated to cargo sizes of 65 Kipevu Oil Terminers (KTO) of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) per month and 58KT of PMS at 21 days intervals were discussed. 
However, the understanding was that JET A-1 would continue to be imported through the G-to-G arrangement for purposes of economies of scale and efficient utilisation of the import facilities at Mombasa;
Uganda imports utilize the import, handling, storage and transportation facilities in Kenya for receipt and delivery of product to the Uganda market. 
The facilities utilized include the KOT II berths, Kipevu Oil Storage Facility, KPC’s ssystem (storage tanks, pipelines, loading gantries etc.), Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited’s (KPRL) system (storage tanks, pipelines etc.) and any other bulk petroleum storage facility with primary connection to the KPC mainline. 

For clarity, AGO is received at VTTI and pumped in batches through KPC’s mainline, while PMS is received through the integrated KOSF/KPRL facilities;
The Government of Uganda (GoU) further requested an increase in AGO and PMS cargoes to 80,000 tons for each product and sought approval to import 14,000 tons for Jet A-1 for its market. 
A GoK team comprised of representatives from State Department for Petroleum (SDP) Kenya Pipeline Company Limited (KPC Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) met on 19th August 2024 to review this request and assess the feasibility of receiving the additional volumes through Kenya.

The additional volumes as requested by Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) are: AGO – 20,000 M3 per month and PMS – 15,000 M3 per month. It was determined that the additional volumes could be accommodated under the following conditions; 
UNOC maintains evacuation rates of 3,750 M3/day and 3,250 M3/day for PMS and AGO respectively. 
AGO would be handled at VTTI, with pump overs to mainline dependent on evacuation from the KPC system. PMS volumes could be increased by reducing the interval between the cargoes from the current 21 days to 18 days after the delivery of UG05/2024. 

Jet A-1 import would remain as per the initially agreed position (maintained under G-to-G arrangement) owing to the outage of one tank (for maintenance) and need to manage the IK generated.
Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has since delivered AGO cargoes UG03/2024 and UG04/2024 with the additional AGO that they had requested. In addition, they co-loaded 8KT of Jet A-1 in AGO UG04/2024 which was accommodated under strain leading to logistical constraints. 

Without tank 501 for Jet A-1 containment of the Jet A-1 import by UNOC would pose a logistical challenge on the system. Should Uganda import through Kenya, it will be necessary to account for any IK generated during transportation and Uganda’s commitment to uptake the volume. 
Combi cargoes should be discouraged due to the potential risk of contamination if the discharge process is not handled with care.
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