Kenya and Uganda have commenced discussions on extending the petroleum products pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala, as announced by the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) on Tuesday. Uganda’s Energy Minister Ruth Ssentamu met with top officials in Kenya’s Energy Ministry, including Principal Secretary Mohammed Liban, last week. The delegation also toured KPC headquarters in Nairobi.
The proposed pipeline extension involves Kenya constructing a multi-product pipeline from Eldoret to the Kenya-Uganda border town of Malaba, approximately 127 kilometers from Eldoret. Meanwhile, Uganda will build a connecting line from Malaba to its capital, Kampala, about 236 kilometers away. There are also plans for future expansion to the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
“Extending the pipeline to Uganda is a strategic move for Kenya as the country seeks to regain its competitive advantage in the petroleum export market, particularly in light of Uganda’s new importation strategy,” said KPC Managing Director Joe Sang.
Ssentamu stated that last week’s visit focused on planning and preparation for the project’s commencement, as well as gaining an understanding of Kenya Pipeline’s operations, infrastructure, and human capacity.
This project is set to impact the region’s fuel import market, following Uganda’s recent shift to independent fuel imports earlier this month, which ended its reliance on Kenya for refined petroleum products.
Under a new agreement between the Uganda National Oil Corporation (UNOC) and Dutch energy multinational Vitol Bahrain, Uganda aims to secure more competitive fuel prices. Despite this, Uganda will continue to use Kenya’s port of Mombasa and KPC’s infrastructure to transport oil products to the Eldoret and Kisumu depots.
Earlier this year, tensions arose between Kenya and Uganda when Nairobi denied Uganda’s government-owned oil marketer a license to operate locally and handle fuel imports to Kampala. Kenya also refused the use of KPC infrastructure to transport refined petroleum products from Mombasa port to Uganda.
This led Uganda to sue Kenya at the East African Court of Justice in December, accusing Kenya of denying UNOC the right to operate as an oil marketing company in Kenya.
In February, President William Ruto met Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni to address the issue, announcing that the dispute was being resolved. Then in May, Ruto hosted Museveni at State House, Nairobi, and subsequently announced that they had tasked their respective ministers to urgently mobilize resources for the project and report on progress by the end of 2024.
