Finance minister, Matia Kasaijja(L) officially commissions Uganda National Oil company (UNOC) operations.
The Finance and Energy Ministries have taken over the management of the Jinja fuel storage terminal.
The terminal that has been managed under a Joint Venture Partnership between One Petroleum Limited (OPL) consortium and Uganda National Oil Company Limited (UNOC) will now fully be under management and operatorship of UNOC effective 23rd December 2022.
The takeover of the terminal was officially effected on Friday at a ceremony Presided over by the Ministry of Finance, Matia Kasaijja. In attendance were UNOC Chief Executive Officer, Proscovia Nabanja and some of the politicians in Jinja City.
According to a statement from UNOC, In 2017, UNOC entered into a joint venture partnership with the consortium comprising One Petroleum limited, One Petroleum Uganda limited, and Mbaraki Bulk Terminal limited) for the operation and management of the Jinja Storage Terminal.
One Petroleum Limited (OPL) reportedly took a decision to focus on other core businesses within their portfolio in line with their business strategy and as such the partners have reached a mutual consensus and agreement for the consortium to hand over the operation and management of JST to UNOC.
The Finance Minister, Matia Kasaijja says that the Jinja Storage Terminal is a capital intensive venture requiring huge sums of money.
He, however, noted that UNOC is expected to profit from it in the long run when it begins to trade in oil products. With earnings, the minister hopes that UNOC will become self-reliant.
Kasaija also notes that, several youths have undertaken specialized courses in oil and gas and UNOC will serve as their primary employer.
Kasaija retaliates government’s commitment to refurbish both the meter gauge and standard gauge railway networks, ease transportation of already processed UNOC products to the different parts of the country.
Meanwhile, Nankabirwa said that, the Jinja city’s based reserves with their 30 Million-litre storage capacity, will be boosted with other proposed storage facility in Mpigi, slated to have a holding capacity of 300 Million liters.
Kampala Storage Terminal (KST) as it is popularly known, when complete will keep up to 320 million litres of refined petroleum products.
These products will be received as import through Kenya and Tanzania and later from the planned refinery in Hoima.
Kampala Storage Terminal will also have an extension terminal to serve as a storage facility for Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG).
It is expected that Kampala Storage Terminal will reduce Uganda’s petroleum products(fuel) shortages that usually lead to speculations and sometimes abnormal increase in fuel prices.
Meanwhile, UNOC’s chief executive officer, Proscovia Nabbanjja says that, they plan to improve their efficiency, through the installation of oil pipeline terminal through Lake Victoria, which will ease delivery of oil products directly to the oil facilities, located about 300 meters away from the oil reserves.
-URN
