200811042249 | Uganda struggling with oil shortage.

Uganda struggling with oil shortage.

Motorists in Uganda are struggling to get fuel and the position is worse in KAMPALA as tankers get stuck in Malaba border post due to inefficiences of the Government Revenue Authority, resulting in panick buying of fuel especially in Kampala. Diesel shot up from sh2,380 to sh2,600 while kerosene increased from sh2,250 to sh2,350.

Oil company sources said the shortage and price rise have been caused by delayed clearance of trucks at Malaba border, problems with the oil pipeline in Kenya, panic buying by motorists, hoarding by some companies and the rising dollar exchange rate.

More than 100 oil-transporting trucks remained stuck at Malaba border yesterday.

The Uganda Petroleum dealers’ chairman, Rajni Tailor, said they had resorted to rationing fuel as a result of the shortage. “Whenever motorists realise a fuel shortage, they rush to fill their tanks. At my stations now, we do not sell more than 20 litres to big cars and more than 10 litres to small ones,” said Rajni, who owns several Total stations in Kampala, has said.

According to government statistics, Uganda uses 1.2 million litres of diesel, 543,000 of petrol and 300,000 of jet fuel daily. Of the total amount of diesel used, 560,000 litres are used to generate electric power.

The fuel shortage has been aggravated by failure in the recent attempts to upgrade the Kenyan oil pipeline system.