Uganda extends deadline for fuel companies re-licensing to September

Speaking at a stakeholders meeting on fuel marking and quality monitoring last week, the assistant commissioner for standards in the petroleum supply department, John Habomugisha, urged the companies to meet the deadline. Habomugisha explained that the re-licencing was geared towards having credible fuel companies in the market.

“We are going to vet everybody. This means that we are going to clean up and move into an organised future,” he explained. The commissioner said companies which fail to meet the requirements will be prohibited from operating in the country.

Some of the fuel companies operating in Uganda are Shell, Total, Engen, Kobil, Petro City, Rio Oil, Jovenna, Delta, Hared, Fuelex, City Oil and Gapco. The fuel products imported into the country include Premium Motor Spirit (petroleum), AGO (diesel), and BIK (kerosene).

The terms for re-licencing include signing a compliance agreement with the National Environmental Management Authority for an environmental impact assessment. The initial fees range from sh1m to sh10m, depending on the purpose of the licence.

Daniel Segal, the Kobil general manager, asked the ministry and regulatory bodies to close illegal fuel stations before the September deadline. Habomugisha assured the companies that this would be enforced immediately after the re-licencing exercise.

Jane Akello, the customs audit supervisor at the petroleum unit of Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), said they are in the process of configuring all the registered and re-licenced companies onto the systems network. She noted that URA would share the information with the Uganda National Bureau of Standards to expose unprincipled companies that under declare fuel volumes.