Major oil marketers have bowed to government’s pressure to sell oil and other petroleum products to small oil firms in a move that aims to prevent another fuel shortage.
The agreement was arrived at during a meeting brokered by the Ministry of Petroleum where oil marketing companies accepted to sell to smaller retailers or independent dealers who have no links with multinational firms.
Dr. Monica Juma led ministry also instructed the oil marketers to fully dedicate to the local market two fuel cargoes – one of diesel and another of super petrol –that will be discharged at Mombasa in 14 days.
The ministry hopes that this will avert looming shortages after the country went through a major crisis for a while.
Kenya has been experiencing fuel shortages from late March which is blamed on oil marketing companies (OMCs) refusing to sell to smaller retailers who control the rural market.
The crisis started in North Rift, parts of Western Kenya and spread to the rest of the country leading public outcry.
The meeting that was also attended by Petroleum Outlets Association of Kenya (Poak) and Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra), also resolved that the major marketers will set aside a substantial fraction of the petroleum products they already have to the independent retailers.
“We agreed that in order to correct the fuel supply hitches that have affected the country for the past two weeks…20 million litres be made available to the non-franchised petroleum retailers who now account for 68% of the country’s retail network,” said Poak Chairman Martin Chomba.
The independents have blamed the crisis on the major players and importers setting wholesale prices at high rates that left them with little or no margins when reselling to the final consumers.
Dr. Juma also directed that 238 million litres of both super petrol and diesel that will be discharged over the next two weeks be exclusively used in the country and not sold to neighboring countries.
The move aims to guarantee adequate fuel supply for the local market to meet growing demand especially in parts of Western Kenya, where the ministry has reported a surge in demand with motorists from Uganda crossing over to fuel in Kenya.
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