This archive report was first published on 21 August 2019.
On August 21, 2019, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) revealed that transporting petroleum products by road from the port of Mombasa remains cheaper than using the new Sh48 billion oil pipeline.
According to EPRA, road transport of petroleum products from Mombasa to Eldoret costs between Sh1,500 ($15) and Sh2,000 ($20) less per cubic metre compared to pipeline transport.
EPRA director-general Pavel Oimeke told the National Assembly's Energy Committee that it costs $89 per cubic metre to transport petroleum products through the pipeline from Mombasa to Kampala in Uganda, while the same costs $75 per cubic metre to transport by road.
MPs questioned the high costs of transporting oil through the pipeline, despite the new Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline being expected to significantly reduce transport costs.
Kenya has lost the oil imports market to Tanzania, where Uganda's oil imports have dropped from 90 percent to 40 percent.
