Page 17 - DMEA Week 31

DMEA FUELS DMEA

Kenya reports more delays for

fuel shipments to Uganda

KENYA KENYA Pipeline Co. (KPC) has said it does not [coronavirus] COVID-19 pandemic.”
expect to begin deliveries of petroleum products The KPC head did not say exactly when the
Kenya Pipeline Co. to Uganda via port facilities in Kisumu on sched- Ugandan import facility might be completed.
(KPC) has said it does ule in January 2021. He indicated, though, that the Entebbe jetty was
not expect to begin According to Irungu Macharia, the managing expected to come online later in 2021.
deliveries of petroleum director of the state-run fuel pipeline operator, The route will not be able to handle regular
products to Uganda via the barge route across Lake Victoria will not commercial shipments of fuel until it completes
port facilities in Kisumu yet be ready to use by the target date because of “several compliance processes” and gains access
on schedule in January problems in Uganda. Work on export facilities in to a barge that can carry cargoes of up to 4.2mn
2021. Kisumu has proceeded as planned, he explained, litres across Lake Victoria, he added.
but operations at import facilities in Entebbe Kenya and Uganda began working to estab-
have fallen behind schedule. lish an export corridor for petroleum products
“The Kisumu oil jetty has been delayed by the across Lake Victoria in 2013. They had initially
delay in completion of complementary facilities hoped to start using the Kisumu-Entebbe route
in Uganda,” Macharia was quoted as saying by the in 2019, but the project has been delayed repeat-
Daily Nation. “The timing of the [Kisumu] jetty edly on both sides.
development was pegged on the construction of KPC is already using a specialised ship to
a jetty, vessels and receiving depot in Uganda by transport rail tankers full of fuel across the lake
a private investor [Mhathi Infra, an Indian com- to destinations in Tanzania and Uganda. The
pany active in Uganda]. It was estimated that the company conducted a dry-run test of this route
works would be completed by November 2020 last year, as well as a wet-run test that involved
and operations would commence by January the transfer of petroleum products from Kisumu
2021. This has, however, been impacted by the to the Ugandan port of Jinja. ™

Lebanon to diversify fuel oil imports

LEBANON LEBANON is looking to diversity its fuel oil contract expires, Ghajar said. If the government
imports starting in 2021, Energy Minister follows through on its plan, the Algerian firm
If the government Raymond Ghajar told Bloomberg last week, will lose a monopoly over the Lebanese fuel oil
follows through on its amid a dispute with its top supplier, Algeria’s market that it has held since 2005.
plan, Sonatrach will Sonatrach. Lebanon is able to store up to 20 days of heavy
lose a monopoly over Lebanese authorities have accused Sonatrach fuel oil supply and 45 days of gasoil, and the min-
the Lebanese fuel oil of supplying adulterated, low-quality fuel, ister expects these tanks to be filled in the next
market that it has held although the company denies this. The dispute two to three weeks. This will enable Lebanon to
since 2005. has led to supply disruptions, causing outages at resume normal power production. ™
power plants that run on imported fuel oil.
According to Ghajar, Lebanon is currently
receiving only half the usual amount of fuel
oil for this time of year. Typically it takes 2mn
tonnes per year of heavy fuel oil, along with
1.8mn tpy of gasoil.
“We don’t want to have one supplier giving
all the fuel,” he told Bloomberg. We’d rather have
several. If we run into a problem, then we can
use another.”
The government is making preparations for a
tender for fuel oil purchases beginning in 2021.
Contracts will last three years, and unlike the
current deal with Sonatrach, suppliers will be
able to source the fuel from any country.
Lebanon will continue buying fuel oil from
Sonatrach until the end of 2020, when its

Week 31 06•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P17