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AfrOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT AfrOil

UNOC to import more fuel via

Kisumu-Jinja barge route

UGANDA UGANDA National Oil Co. (UNOC) is seek- countries that import most of their fuel via
ing to fill petroleum product storage facilities in Kenya. This plan gives traders in Burundi,
Jinja, a port on Lake Victoria, in order to facili- Rwanda, South Sudan and the eastern regions
tate regional fuel trade. of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) the
According to Peter Muliisa, UNOC’s legal option of picking up petroleum products in Jinja
and corporate affairs manager, the company rather than travelling to Kisumu or Mombasa,
will achieve this by importing at least 3mn litres he said. It will also relieve some of the strain on
per week of gasoline and diesel. These volumes Kenyan infrastructure as fuel import volumes
will be shipped to Jinja in rail tankers by barge rise, he added.
from Kisumu, a Kenyan port on Lake Victoria, “Our counterparts in Kenya have fantastic
he said. facilities, but once we also get to that level, I
The Kisumu-Jinja delivery route is already think it is going to be a game-changer in a way.
in use, he noted. Speaking on August 19, he But first, we are committed to ensuring that
reported that UNOC had brought 6mn litres of the volumes by the lake increase and eventu-
gasoline and diesel into the country by barge the ally become significant mode of transport,” he
previous week. The fuel was transported by rail remarked. ™
from Jinja to the company’s storage depot and
added to inventories, he explained.
UNOC sees the rail-and-barge route as a
better option than continued reliance on road
tanker trucks that travel overland, he added.
“Our intention is to ensure that the Jinja storage
terminals are fully operational, and one way is to
use the lake for optimisation,” he was quoted as
saying by The Monitor. “Each fuel truck carries
at least 35,000 litres, yet one [rail tanker wagon]
carries 1mn litres. In this way. the lake is [a far
more] efficient mode of transport.”
Muliisa went on to say that his company
wanted to keep stock levels high so that the
Jinja facility, which has a capacity of 120mn
litres, could serve as a gateway for other African Fuel shipments to Jinja begin at KPC’s terminal in Kisumu (Image: KPC)

INVESTMENT
FAR to reduce stake in Sangomar

SENEGAL AUSTRALIA’S FAR Ltd is set to reduce its stake It also indicated that it would reap some
in the Sangomar block offshore Senegal. financial advantage from the deal. “Petrosen is
According to a company press release, the now required to reimburse the other RSSD ven-
company is bringing its holdings in RSSD, the turers their pro-rata share of the 8% of expenses
joint venture formed to explore and develop relating to the Sangomar Exploitation Area
Sangomar, down from 15% to 13.67%. FAR’s incurred since January 8, 2020. As at the end of
move follows a decision by Petrosen, the June 2020, the share due to FAR is $4.79m,” it
national oil company (NOC) of Senegal, to said.
increase its own stake in RSSD from 10% to 18%, This probably comes as a relief to FAR, which
the press release noted. has not fulfilled its obligation to pay its share
The Australian firm pointed out that Pet- of the RSSD consortium’s expenses in recent
rosen’s move was not unexpected. “FAR has months. The company said earlier this year that
captured the impact of this expected action by it was looking into the possibility of selling all or
Petrosen in economic modelling of the project part of its stake in Sangomar in order to uphold
previously announced to the market,” it stated. its commitments.

Week 34 26•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11