The government has assured Kenyans of sustained fuel supply and continued price cushioning following a high-level inspection tour of key petroleum storage facilities along the coast.
Principal Secretary (PS) for Petroleum Kello Harsama led the familiarization tour, which covered major installations in Mombasa including the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited, now repurposed as a bulk oil storage facility and the Kipevu Bulk Oil Storage Plant.
The delegation also visited Kenya Ports Authority shipping areas where vessels were actively offloading fuel cargo, and inspected a bulk storage facility under construction by Taifa Gas Limited.
“We are satisfied with what we have seen. We want to assure Kenyans that the supply of fuel will be sustained, and as we have always done, we will continue to cushion Kenyans against the high prices of fuel,” Harsama said.
The PS noted that Kenya currently holds fuel reserves sufficient to last over one month, with additional vessels already enroute to supplement existing stocks.
“We still have several vessels arriving to offload fuel cargo to sufficiently satisfy the demand for Kenyans. We are far ahead of many countries in this region as far as regulation and supply of fuel is concerned,” he said.
Harsama said Kenyans in the Eastern and Southern Africa region should consider themselves fortunate, noting that the government has not only maintained adequate supply but has outperformed neighbouring countries in shielding consumers from the effects of global fuel price volatility.
The inclusion of Taifa Gas Limited’s facility in the tour underscored the government’s broader push to grow gas storage infrastructure across the country.
Harsama said the State Department is keen to attract investment in the subsector to keep pace with rising domestic demand for gas.
“This is in line with the government’s intention to promote investments in gas storage in Kenya to ensure that we satisfy the demand for gas consumption in the country,” he said, adding that more storage facilities would be established to sustain long-term adequacy.
Officials from the facilities briefed the delegation on operational capacities, storage logistics, and safety compliance, with the PS expressing confidence in the standards observed across all sites visited.
The Mombasa coastal corridor serves as the primary gateway for petroleum imports into Kenya and the wider East African region, making the stability of its storage and offloading infrastructure critical to national energy security.
Harsama pledged that the government would maintain its vigilance over fuel supply chains and pricing to protect ordinary Kenyans from market shocks.
by Ramadhan Nassib
