Fuel consumers in western Kenya are to continue paying dearly following prolonged disruptions of supply as the region grapples with an acute shortage of the commodity in the wake of political turmoil.

Triton Petroleum company which operates eight retail stations in Eldoret, Nakuru and Kisumu had all its premises affected by the post election violence and loss estimated at 60 per cent.

"Currently, we are only selling products to the Mt Kenya region and environs, Nairobi and parts of Coast. Trucks and public service vehicles consume upto 80 per cent of supply and if they are not operating, we incur huge losses," Andrew Otieno , the firm's marketing manager told Business Daily on phone.

State-owned National Oil said two of its upcountry stations in Sondu and Eldoret were vandalised.

" The impact both in terms of damaged facilities and lost business is in the tune of Sh30 million," said NOCK managing director Mwendia Nyaga.

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) which supplies marketers from its upcountry depots said there was reduced off take from depots in the three towns although there were adequate stocks.

"Fuel movement is running normally. But if oil companies do not lift products regularly, our storage capacity could be overstretched," Peter Mecha , the KPC's manager in charge of operations.

Tea and milk processors said their stocks were growing thin and unless they were replenished they were likely to suffer huge losses.

Availability of fuel from the refinery has been limited due to lack of adequate crude oil feed at the Mombasa-based Kenya Petroleum Oil Refineries (KPRL) in the past one month.

On Tuesday, some 150 trucks transporting goods to western Kenya were stuck in Mlolongo, near Nairobi after protestors mounted civilian roadblocks in most sections of the main Mombasa-Malaba Northern Corridor transportation route, hampering their movement.

Kenol, which commands the highest share in the local retail market and has presence in six regional countries, said consumption of its products, especially in western Kenya, has reduced due to prevailing tension in the affected areas.

Jet A-1 uplifts have also dropped by an average of 11 per cent as the number of international and local flights have been scaled down. Sales of jet fuel account for the highest quantities of inland sales by oil firms .

Production at the refinery has slightly improved with last week's arrival of some 80,000 tonnes of Murban crude oil .

But statistics by Kenol show that export products in January have surpassed those moved in December despite the political turmoil.

"We wish to ensure our customers that the stocks have continued to build up since then. We have adequate stock balances of all white products ," said Edwin Kinyua , the firm's head of corporate affairs.

"Premium motor spirit volumes for the export market have risen by 42 per cent, while diesel export deliveries have gone up by 50 per cent. The total export deliveries have risen by an average of 32 per cent," he said in a statement.

Kenya Shell with a 21.04 per cent market share says it is difficult to move products to many parts of western Kenya unless the security situation improves.

"We are relying on the security convoys. Off take from the KPC depots is also limited," said Mwaura Ngaari , the Shell external affairs manager on phone.

For the past month, Kenol has been importing crude oil to be processed at KPRL on behalf of the industry through the monthly Open Tender System as well as private imports of refine products. While a litre of Premium petroleum costs an average of Sh88-91 in Nairobi, in the greater Kericho and Kisii the figure has swollen to Sh200.

This signals a steep rise in commodity prices and passengers will be forced to dig deeper into their pockets.

Persistent shortage of petroleum products in the affected districts is said to be the result of a reluctance by owners of tankers to get them back on the road fearing the wrath of protesters.

Violence has rocked most parts of the country since President Kibaki was declared the winner of the controversial December polls.