There is fuel shortage in Kenya that is worsening at an alarming rate. The fuel shortage started in North Rift. It then spread to Nakuru County and finally landed in Nairobi County. Long lines at the pump stations have also been reported in the Eastern and Central regions.

But according to the Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya currently has enough fuel to service the whole country.

KPC managing director Macharia Irungu says that there are over 69 million litres of super petrol in its reserves. Additionally, he said there are more than 94 million litres of diesel, 13 million litres of kerosene and over 23 million litres of jet fuel.

“Kenya Pipeline Company would like to confirm that there are ample stocks of petroleum products in our system throughout the country to meet demand,” Irungu said.

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“Our global stock holding is adequate to serve the region with more ships in Mombasa queued for discharge,” he added.

So what is causing the shortage? Well, the government through the fuel subsidy is the real reason why you have no fuel.

The national government has failed in compensating margins to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) from the fuel stabilization mechanism.

In retaliation, marketers have resulted to hoarding fuel supplies in a bid to force payments from the exchequer. Although the government alleges that it has only failed to pay oil marketers for one month, reports say that it owes oil marketers for up to four months, going back to December 2021.

Through the subsidy, the national treasury has been demanding that oil marketers sell their fuel at a loss. This loss is then supposed to be compensated by the government through the fuel subsidy.

However, the government has failed to pay up, leaving oil marketers exposed to selling their fuel at a loss without any forthcoming compensation.

“The recent escalation in international prices has resulted in huge differences between the actual calculated and stabilized pump prices,” EPRA says.

“There have been delays in remitting compensation from the stabilization fund and this has resulted in a number of OMCs holding back sales to the local market.”