A fuel tanker unloading petrol at Gapco fuel station on Kiira Road in Kampala on Saturday

By Geresom Musamali and Reuben Olita in Nairobi

THERE is a shortage of diesel and other petroleum products in the country. Total Uganda on Friday advised its clients to plan their travel arrangements carefully.

“While we try to get some means to avert total stock-out, we request you to bear with us during this period and plan well before taking upcountry trips,” Total Uganda advised.

Most of the city’s Caltex fuel stations had ran out of diesel by Friday. Luzira, Bweyogerere, Ntinda, Kampala Road and Wampewo Avenue fuel stations had no diesel by yesterday.

Total gas station in Kireka ran out of diesel mid-morning yesterday, while Kobil Bugolobi had neither petrol nor diesel.

Shell Uganda chairman Ivan Kyayonka said: “There has been a shortage of everything, not just diesel. There were problems in Kenya that caused the disruption of fuel flow. Only a little has been trickling in since last week.”

“But we should not get alarmed because we have (fuel) reserves.”

Sources said there were technical problems at Kenya’s petroleum refinery in Mombasa recently. They added that even the oil pipeline from Mombasa to Eldoret was not working well.

A source said there have hardly been any diesel imports into Uganda since Wednesday last week.

Some of the fuel that enters Uganda is in transit to Rwanda, Burundi, DR Congo and Sudan.

Energy state minister Simon D’Ujanga said the shortage was caused by a disruption at the distribution point in Eldoret.

D’Ujanga assured the public that the problem would not last long because Ugandan trucks had now been authorised to ferry the fuel from Nakuru and Nairobi. He noted that the country was negotiating to have the tankers go to Mombasa.

Kenya Pipeline Company deputy managing director Waithaka Kioni said: “There is no supply or production problem. The problem could be with distribution. I am going to investigate.”

Uganda consumes about 10 million litres of diesel a week, compared to only three million litres of petrol.

Sources said industrial consumers, power generation plants, and other large users of fuel consume four million litres of diesel.

Shell Kiira Road has not been able to provide its big clients with a consistent supply of fuel over the last one week.

The big clients include MTN, World Vision, Tight Security and the International Rescue Committee. The firms have long-term credit arrangements with Shell.

“When we get it, we supply them but when we have little, we can only give the ordinary clients who pay cash,” said David Mugamba, the deputy manager of the station.

According to a mini-survey in Kampala on Saturday, the prices of fuel were stable. A litre of diesel sold at around sh1,840, petrol at sh2,050 and paraffin at 1,660.