Vivo Energy, the licensed operator and distributor of Shell fuel products in Uganda, has said it will still import differentiated fuels such as V Power and oil lubricants to Uganda.
This comes after the government of Uganda, through the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) on July 3 started the sole importation of petroleum products (diesel and petrol) into the country.
During a tour of Vivo’s facilities in Namuwongo, Kampala recently, in which the company showcased its fuel quality processes at its eight million litres capacity storage facility, Geoffrey Elyamu, the supply and distributions manager of Vivo Energy Uganda, said that even though UNOC now supplies them with 100 per cent of their petroleum product, they will continue the importation of their differentiated fuels by themselves since they go through a different supply chain.
“Previously, we imported 90 per cent of our fuel through the government of Kenya tender, but we now get 100 per cent of our petroleum products from UNOC. However, we still have private imports for products like V Power and other lubricants, which we import directly from Shell in the Middle East and bring them to Uganda through Tanzania. Since these products are unique to us, their supply chain is different,” he said.
Elyamu also noted that like all the other registered oil importers in Uganda, Vivo Energy signed contracts with UNOC that guarantee supply but also in which they commit to receive 100 per cent of their petroleum oil from UNOC. On whether fuel prices will be high or low, he said it will depend on the prices Uganda’s only supplier, UNOC, gives them.
“Just like every Ugandan, we are looking forward to the best cost of fuel from UNOC when they avail it to us. And we shall also make sure that our customers experience it. We are in support of UNOC because we know where we are coming from; we are coming from a period where there was instability in supply and we had hiccups which we hope UNOC is going to fix,” he said.
According to a statement from UNOC, they will import 180 tonnes or 180 million litres of fuel products monthly. Uganda consumes about 6.5 million litres of fuel products per day.
