Chris Kiwawulo and Conan Businge
18 November 2008
Kampala — THE fuel shortage has worsened, forcing dealers to raise pump prices and ration the products.
Panic buying has set in, with motorists queuing to fill their tanks over reports that stations are running dry.
Yesterday, many filling stations in the city centre had no fuel, Total and Shell being most hit.
Shell Ntinda, Lugogo, Nakawa, Kampala and Jinja Road and Kaazi on Entebbe Road did not have petrol.
At Total opposite BAT headquarters in Industrial area, according to a source, the 2,000 litres of petrol they received in the morning ran out by 2:30pm. Caltex Ntinda had no petrol in the afternoon.
"You cannot get petrol in the city centre. You have to get it from the suburbs," said a boda boda cyclist in Industrial area, Kampala.
The fuel scarcity pushed pump prices up to sh2,900 per litre of petrol from sh2,600 last week. The price of diesel shot up to sh2,600 from sh2,380, while kerosene rose from sh2,250 to sh2,500.
Energy ministry officials and fuel dealers yesterday held a crisis meeting in Kampala to find a solution.
State minister for mineral development Kamanda Bataringaya chaired the meeting.
It resolved that dealers use the Dar es Salaam port to bring in fuel, Bataringaya said.
He blamed the problem on capacity problems on the Kenyan side.
The minister said the Uganda Revenue Authority also partly delayed the clearance of trucks coming into the country "because they were installing a new clearing system."
"The repairs on the pipeline from Mombasa to Nairobi (line one) is also affecting the fuel supply."
Despite this, Bataringaya noted, some fuel had started coming in although many trucks were still stuck at the border.
The increasing prices, Bataringaya said, were caused by the fluctuation of the shilling against the dollar and the Kenyan requirement that all trucks be changed from four-axle to three-axle.
Four-axle trucks carry 42,000 litres of fuel, while the three-axle ones carry 30,000 litres.
"When the dollar gains against the shilling, some fuel dealers hesitate to buy fuel because they fear to make losses," he said.
Kobil Uganda chairman Daniel Segal said many vessels were stuck at Mombasa.
This, he said, had increased demurrage charges which affects the cost of fuel in Uganda.
Segal said each ship pays $30,000 per day in demurrage charges, adding that some ships have stayed at the port for 30 days.
The repair works on the Mombasa - Nairobi pipeline, Segal said, were meant to cater for higher demand in Uganda, Congo and Rwanda.
The pipeline carries 440 cubic meters of oil per hour and will carry 850 cubic meters on completion.
Shell Uganda chairman Ivan Kyayonka said the shortage was temporary. "The restocking is going to be a build-up process."
He said Shell's low prices had raised demand for its products.
Uganda uses over 1.2 million litres of diesel, 543,000 of petrol and 300,000 of jet fuel daily.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
