Errant petroleum firms to be shamed publicly

Jul 03, 2014

THE government is moving to publicly shame oil companies that fail tests in the Fuel Marking and Quality Monitoring Programme

By Billy Rwothungeyo

THE government is moving to publicly shame oil companies that fail tests in the Fuel Marking and Quality Monitoring Programme.

“Effective this month, all players who will fail the tests will in addition to paying the usual fines, be published in the print media and on the ministry’s website,” said John Friday, the Assistant Commissioner for Petroleum Supply in the Energy ministry.

Friday made the remarks on Thursday in Kampala at the commissioning of ten million litre capacity tanks by Vivo Energy Uganda, the firm that runs Shell service stations in Uganda.

The marking of fuel is mainly done at customs entry points of Malaba, Busia and Mutukula by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) in partnership with the ministry.

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Vivo Energy Uganda Managing Director Hans Paulsen with the Vivo Energy Group Chief Executive officer Christian Chammas at the Launch. Photo by Nicholas Oneal

The adulteration, smuggling and dumping of transit fuel are rampant in the Ugandan market.

Saturday urged other firms to follow in Vivo’s capacity a boost their capacity of their storage facilities.

“Because we are landlocked, it is imperative that we have stable supply to avoid shortages,” he said.

He invited Vivo and other players to store their products in the recently refurbished government facilities in Jinja. The facility has a storage capacity of 30 million litres.

Commissioned in the 1970s, the reserve has been dilapidated since 2007 until Hared petroleum and government rehabilitated recently through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

Hans Paulsen, the Vivo Energy Uganda managing director said with the new facility, the firm has moved to 25 days of stock capacity.

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