Since October 2023, Kenya has lost $200 million worth of exports to Uganda, its largest regional market. This is as Uganda shifts to Tanzania for oil imports.
This revelation comes barely a week after Uganda announced that it is moving to Tanzania for oil imports after reaching a dead end in the quest to have its national oil marketer, Uganda National Oil company (Unoc), registered in Kenya to facilitate its imports via the Mombasa port.
“You can’t sit there and be at the mercy of one person. So far, I have met the President of Tanzania. My president sent me as an envoy and we are in discussions,” Ugandan Energy Minister of Energy Ruth Nankabirwa was quoted by the regional newspaper East African.
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“So, we know that the alternative route could be expensive because of the logistics that are involved but we also know that there is a possibility of a negotiation with the government of Tanzania, to waive some taxes so that their sister country can be able to do business.”
Uganda has been importing about 2.5 billion litres of petroleum products that are valued at $2 billion annually. The Kenya Pipeline Corporation has been handling at least 90 per cent of this cargo.
Earlier this year, Uganda signed an agreement to buy fuel from Vitol Bahrain directly in a move that ended decades of reliance on the Kenyan Open Tender System.
According to reports, Uganda started its shift from relying on Kenya in 2023 when Kenya penned a controversial deal to buy oil on credit.
