Ugandan oil dealers meet Kenyan authorities over oil shortage

Ugandan oil dealers have met Kenyan authorities over the increasing shortage of fuel in Uganda and asked them to relax the recently imposed regulations on the products.

The Chairman of Shell Uganda, Charles Kyayonka was quoted by local press on Tuesday as saying that the oil dealers have held several meetings with the Kenyan officials to ease on the regulations on the loading of oil products which are now causing a looming fuel crisis in Uganda.

"We have a big shortage, especially of diesel. We are not receiving enough because the Kenyan government has since August changed the regulations on fuel movement to curb smuggling," Kyayonka said.

Under the new oil exportation/importation rules that started last month, oil dealers have to pay taxes on oil products in stages within a month of their release from the refinery in Mombasa.

According to oil dealers, this has slowed down the process of delivering oil products to Uganda which mainly uses Kenya to get oil into the country. Two weeks ago, oil companies in Uganda had started rationing fuel due to stock shortages following the delay in clearing trucks by the Kenya Revenue Authority.

Oil dealers say that the fuel shortage is mainly affecting the construction industry that uses heavy machinery and transportation trucks whose engines run on diesel.

The demand for the use of oil products in Uganda is on the increase. Last year, the country consumed over 650 million liters of fuel, 7 percent more than that in 2003.

Source:Xinhua