200805101242 | Fuel shortage to ease, says Energy Minister Migereko

Fuel shortage to ease, says Energy Minister Migereko

Diesel fuel shortages that started to escalate in the latter part of this week are expected to ease considerably with supplies coming into the country this weekend, the Energy Ministry said Friday.

The scarcities were occasioned by multiple factors but mostly by a Middle Eastern Super Tanker that developed problems en route at sea and failed to dock at the port of Mombasa, East Africa’s main sea gate.

That ship was forced to turn back to UAE, sparking instant scarcities of diesel in the region. A litre of diesel subsequently shot to a peak of Shs 3000 in parts of the city from about Shs 2400.

“Another ship was dispatched and it docked on April 25,” the State Minister for Energy, Mr Simon D’ Ujang said.“Fuel started flowing and I think tankers started arriving yesternight (Friday night) so we expect the market to stabilise through the weekend.”

Even then reports elsewhere suggested the pipeline from Mombasa to Eldoret in Eastern Kenya was leaking and slowing down fuel flow, which could hamper supplies to Uganda and the rest of the hinterland.

“Well, that pipeline always has problems but they fix them whenever they develop and we don’t expect it to present a major problem,” Mr D’U jang said. Uganda and Kenya are jointly constructing a pipeline to deliver petroleum products to Jinja East of Kampala.