VenturesNow

Ugandan state oil company inks agreements with over 80 fuel marketers

Published

6 months ago

June 4, 2024

Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc) signed sales and purchase agreements (SPAs) with the largest fuel dealers in the market on Tuesday, as it continues to recover from the setbacks associated with the route in Kenya that threatened its monopoly on fuel supply. These agreements will permanently bind over 80 Ugandan oil marketers to the state-owned company.

This comes after the Ugandan, Kenyan, and Unoc governments recently signed a tripartite agreement at the State House in Nairobi. According to officials, the first products should be available next month.

The SPAs define the roles and obligations of each link in the supply chain and provide a formal agreement between Unoc, the supplier, and the oil marketing corporations (OMCs), the buyers of bulk petroleum products.

“The agreements with our clients, the OMCs have been completed and so what remains is delivering the vessel/products and the products hitting the fuel pumps,” said Peter Muliisa, Unoc’s Chief Legal Company Secretary.

“With the signing, everything is now set,” said Mr Muliisa. “What remains now is to bring in the first vessel to start delivering the fuel. We expect the first ship under Unoc will be here in July.”

At the Kampala Serena Hotel, five businesses, including Vivo Energy, Moil, Rock Global Oils, Petro City, and Nile Energy, signed agreements with Unoc. On Wednesday, additional businesses are anticipated to sign agreements, which will generate billions of dollars in revenue for the single supplier.

Proscovia Nabbanja, the chief executive officer of Unoc, and Mr. Muliisa signed on behalf of the business, while representatives of the OMCs signed on behalf of their individual enterprises.

In addition to being the only supplier, Unoc will play a significant role in the transportation of petroleum products into Uganda, running the oil barges and vessels that are anticipated to be added to the company’s inventory, a development that will cement its dominance in the sector.

According to Mr. Muliisa, Unoc will need a new vessel each month to transport enough gasoline to meet the market demand, which is now seven million liters per day, given the growth expectations of the downstream part of the business.

The market has been expanding at a rate of seven to nine per cent annually, but within the next five years, it is anticipated to reach a peak of nine to eleven percent. Out of the more than 100 OMCs in Uganda, Unoc has established agreements with at least 83 dealers, or large to medium operations. The smaller and micro dealers will still purchase goods from the industry’s titans.

VenturesNow

IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

53 minutes ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

VenturesNow

Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.