Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that value of Kenyan petroleum exports have dropped 43 per cent from Ksh2.1 billion ($21 million) in the first six months of 2018 to Ksh1.2 billion ($12 million) in the first half of the year.
This is occassioned by the higher costs of transporting fuel from Mombasa Port through Kenya Pipeline Corporation (KPC) into the interior and other landlocked countries, as reported by the East African.
The $60 tariff per 1,000 litres on transported fuel through Kenya Pipeline is costing Kenya revenue as landlocked countries turn to Tanzania’s Central Corridor.
Oil marketers says they pay on average of $80 to ferry oil from Dar es Salaam using trucks but pay $60 tariff when using the pipeline to Kisumu and a further $35 on trucks to buying countries. Tanzania has also upped its game by increasing efficiencies at the port.
“We have been telling the government that $60 tariff is too high. Sometime for marketers it even makes more sense to send trucks to Mombasa which we do and save around $20 because for us margins make a lot of sense,” an oil marketer who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
However, the KPC Chairman John Ngumi says that the government theough the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) is reviewing the tariff.
“They are aware we are in the process of a review and if it is an issue it will be reduced if there are other issue of efficiencies we will also look into that,” Mr Ngumi said.
Uganda, Kenya’s single biggest business partner in terms imports through the Mombasa ports is reported to be considering to use Dar es Salaam port. This is according to George Wachira, the director of Petroleum Focus Consultants.
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