KenolKobil to serve regional markets from Tanzania

[Geza Ulole]

KenolKobil to serve regional markets from Tanzania

Oil marketer KenolKobil is set to cut its reliance on Kenya's refinery, storage and transportation platform as its moves to serve its regional subsidiaries from Tanzania.
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By VICTOR JUMA (email the author)

Oil marketer KenolKobil is set to cut its reliance on Kenya's refinery, storage and transportation platform as its moves to serve its regional subsidiaries from Tanzania denying the country billions of shillings in handling fees and taxes.

The oil firm Tuesday said that its Tanzanian operations will start serving its subsidiaries in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and parts of southern Kenya-which presently rely on Kenya's petroleum infrastructure.

The move look set to deny firms such as Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL), Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) and private transporters income because KenolKobil relies on them to move petroleum products from Mombasa to the regional markets.

Beside capacity constraints in Kenya's oil transport and storage infrastructure, the oil marketer has been locked in multi million shillings dispute with KPRL and KPC, which saw the regulator expel it from the Kenyan market as it reduced the flow of its products to the market.

"Our aim is to reduce our uptake of products from KPC for our regional markets," said Patrick Kondo, the mergers and acquisitions manager at KenolKobil.

"Sourcing oil products from Kenya has made our customers go dry from time to time and we are seeking to solve this problem by boosting our infrastructure in countries such as Tanzania."

Already, the firm has secured a 25-year lease for a 33, 000 cubic meter storage plant and is planning to go big on the bulk purchase of petroleum products through tenders to be issued by the Tanzanian government.

Business Daily: *- Corporate News*|KenolKobil to serve regional markets from Tanzania

MY TAKE
While ****** keep boasting they have a superior infrastructure, this is about to happen!