This archive report was first published on 7 July 2019.
Published on July 7, 2019, by Edwin Okoth
Oil marketers have refused to accept the results of a forensic audit on fuel storage facilities at Kenya Pipeline Company, which indicate losses are lower than initially estimated.
The audit, commissioned by Supplycor Kenya Limited, was meant to last seven weeks from February but has since gone beyond four months, with no sign of any results yet.
Oil industry players who spoke to the Sunday Nation on condition of anonymity alleged that the oil marketing companies are keen on justifying the huge losses that created an uproar and contributed to the suspension of top officials at KPC, including then managing director Joe Sang.
“There is a strong disagreement on the results of the audit since we have had figures of losses floated before and some have even been paid out. So some people want the numbers adjusted to fit the earlier narrative or even make it higher. But the UK firm has refused to play ball. That is why we have to wait longer, otherwise the audit ended a long time ago,” a source said.
The three-year stock audit, which was meant to start in December 2018, was postponed twice to later February.
Supplycor chairman Martin Kimani dismissed claims of a disagreement with the audit, saying the process had reached advanced stages with only some operational meetings going on to finalise the report.
Kimani said he would be meeting the consultants to discuss the results and acknowledged that the audit had taken longer than expected.
The oil marketers bear the cost of the audit, which they called for amid allegations that there had been losses amounting to about Sh1.2 billion.
The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority factors in such losses in the monthly compilation of petroleum products pump prices under a Transport and Services Agreement with KPC that allows for losses of up to 0.25 per cent of the product in the pipeline.
