Museveni breaks ground on Shs 1.15 trillion Kampala Storage Terminal in Mpigi
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony, Museveni questioned whether the planned storage capacity would be sufficient given the country’s rapidly growing demand for petroleum products.
“We are now moving slowly out of sleep,” Museveni said, reflecting on Uganda’s previous dependence on imported petroleum products and its limited storage capacity.
Museveni noted that the existing Jinja Storage Terminal has a capacity of about 30mln litres, compared with monthly national consumption of approximately 240mln litres.
“This one here will be 320mln litres, which should secure us for a month plus. People are happy, but I see that this is not how a country should be run,” Museveni said.
The President added that Uganda needed to continue expanding its storage infrastructure as the economy grows and petroleum consumption increases.
The KST will complement the existing Jinja Storage Terminal and storage facilities operated by private companies. Government is upgrading the Jinja facility from 30mln litres to about 40mln litres, which, together with the KST, would bring storage capacity under Government and UNOC management to approximately 360mln litres once the projects are completed.
UNOC Board Chairperson Mathias Katamba said the terminal would strengthen Uganda’s ability to maintain adequate petroleum reserves while improving the country’s capacity to withstand disruptions along import corridors and fluctuations in global petroleum supply.
He said the facility would provide capacity for government strategic reserves, storage and handling services for oil marketing companies, as well as distribution of petroleum products to different parts of the country.
Located on about 300 acres at Namwabula Estate, the terminal will serve Kampala, the Central Region and other parts of Uganda while providing infrastructure that could support the country’s ambition of becoming a regional petroleum distribution hub.
The project will also be integrated into Uganda’s emerging petroleum infrastructure, including the planned refinery and a network of petroleum products pipelines.
The terminal is expected to connect to the planned Uganda Refinery through a proposed 211-kilometre multi-products pipeline from Hoima to Buloba, while also incorporating the future Mpigi Remote Refinery Terminal, which will receive, store and dispatch petroleum products refined locally.
Once the refinery, pipeline, Mpigi terminal and KST are operational, Uganda will have an integrated system capable of receiving, storing and distributing both imported and domestically refined petroleum products.
Energy and Mineral Development Minister Monica Musenero described the KST as a critical investment in strengthening Uganda’s energy security and building a more resilient petroleum supply system.
“The project goes beyond increasing storage capacity. It provides Uganda with the infrastructure required to maintain strategic petroleum stocks and respond to potential supply disruptions and international market shocks,” Musenero said.
She said government was also planning three regional petroleum products storage facilities to bring strategic stocks closer to different parts of the country and reduce the risks associated with relying heavily on a limited number of supply routes.
Musenero said Government was further exploring additional supply routes through Lake Victoria as part of efforts to diversify the country’s petroleum supply system.
She said the KST would require supporting infrastructure, including a dedicated road connection to the Mpigi Expressway, a planned 33KV electricity line, reliable ICT connectivity, water supply and railway connectivity.
The facility is expected to handle about 450 fuel trucks per day once operational, creating direct and indirect employment opportunities and supporting businesses in Mpigi and surrounding areas.
Musenero also called for proper land-use planning around the terminal to protect its operations, particularly because of the proximity of a planned waste disposal site.
The project forms part of Government’s commitments under the Fourth National Development Plan, which seeks to increase Uganda’s national storage capacity for refined petroleum products from 99.1mln litres in the 2023/24 financial year to 150mln litres by 2029/30.
The plan also provides for the expansion of the Jinja Storage Terminal and development of regional strategic petroleum storage facilities.
Katamba said the project would create opportunities for Ugandan companies to participate in construction, logistics, maintenance and other services while supporting local employment and skills development.
The groundbreaking comes as Uganda advances towards first oil production and the development of a fully integrated petroleum industry.
Earlier this month, Museveni named Uganda’s crude oil “Pearl Sweet”, ahead of the country’s transition into commercial oil production.
Uganda expects to produce crude oil from the Tilenga and Kingfisher projects, with peak production projected at about 230,000 barrels per day. The crude will be transported through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline to the Port of Tanga in Tanzania for export, while government develops infrastructure for domestic refining and petroleum products distribution.
The KST will consequently provide an important downstream link in Uganda’s petroleum value chain by connecting imported and locally refined petroleum products to storage and distribution networks serving the domestic and regional markets.
Government expects the combination of the Kampala Storage Terminal, Jinja Storage Terminal, planned refinery, pipelines and regional storage facilities to improve fuel supply resilience, strengthen energy security and support Uganda’s industrialisation and regional petroleum trade.
https://thecooperator.news/kikuube-museveni-names-ugandas-crude-oil-pearl-sweet/
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