Govt fuel reserves depleted

Motorists should brace for harder times ahead as the country’s extra fuel deposits are depleted, Daily Monitor has established.

In such challenging times, the government is expected to intervene by supplying cheaper fuel to dealers to stabilise the market and enable the country withstand supply shocks. 

The government fuel reservoir in Jinja District, with a capacity of about 30m litres,  is exhausted.

The country uses 6.5 million litres of fuel daily, meaning it would take about five days to deplete the reserves.

The depot manager, Mr Joel Nkangi, said before the fuel crisis, the fuel in the reserves was supplied to dealers in anticipation of timely delivery of a new consignment that had been delayed by the trucks stuck at the border with Kenya.

“Before the crisis, we had ample stocks, but the problem we faced was with replenishing clients when there was a shortage of supply from Kenya,” Mr Nkangi said.

“Clients picked most of their fuel. They took it and did not replenish because of the high demand in December and January. The supply chain was, therefore, broken and the shortage was inevitable. This shortage mostly affected petrol and not diesel,” he added.

The deposits with three tanks, each with a capacity to hold 10 million litres, are managed by the Uganda National Oil Company.

Mr Nkangi said they expect 80 trucks, each carrying 40,000 litres of fuel and others with 35,000 litres. This means the country would need at least 162 trucks to deliver fuel daily to meet the basic demand.

Government at the weekend stopped the medical tests for Covid-19 truck drivers at the border and are now using temperature guns to find suspected positive cases as they struggle to clear fuel supplies.

Uganda receives most of its fuel from Kenya.

When Daily Monitor visited the facility yesterday,  some fuel trucks were parked about 50 metres from the gate.

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