The government has announced plans to grant the National Oil Corporation a tender to import 30% of Kenya’s monthly fuel needs to reduce dependency on independent oil marketers.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma says this is part of a long-term plan to avert future fuel crises such as the one currently being experienced. She did not, however, give details of the plan and how much the government is planning to inject into the Corporation.
The CS says the government will also build a strategic national petroleum reserve. Kenya has no strategic reserves and relies solely on oil marketers’ 21-day oil reserves required under industry regulations.
However, there is a Draft Petroleum (Importation) (Quota Allocations) Regulations, 2022 published in the Kenya Gazette in February. The proposed law aims at giving National Oil exclusive rights to import a third of all fuel products into the country, in changes aimed at protecting the cash strapped parastatal.
The proposed changes, if approved, will hand the Corporation a lifeline at a time growing losses have hurt efforts to keep pace with competition from the well-funded multinationals like TotalEnergies, Rubis and Vivo Energy.
In its recent monthly review, EPRA has set the price of a litre of petrol in Nairobi at KSh144.62 from KSh134.72, while diesel will cost KSh125.50 from KSh115.60. Kerosene will retail at an increased price of KSh113.55 per litre.
See Also:
