The government Wednesday signed deportation papers for Rubis Energie Kenya Managing Director Jean-Christian Bergeron as it fought back against oil marketers it accused of abetting a petroleum crisis through hoarding and higher exports despite shortages in their domestic retail outlets. (Read More Here).
This comes just a day after the state approved chops on the import quota allocations of select oil firms as punishment for abetting the petroleum crisis through market distortion. The Petroleum ministry on Tuesday gave a nod to the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) to punish some rogue dealers suspected to have caused an artificial shortage in the domestic market.
“We have reviewed your recommendations and wish to inform you that this ministry has no objection to the proposed measures. Please, expedite,” the ministry said in a letter seen by the Nation.
Epra Director-General Daniel Kiptoo, in a letter to Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau, said the regulator had identified firms that had chosen to export fuel at the expense of local consumers.
Epra last month increased the price of petrol and diesel by Sh5 which saw their costs jump to a historic Sh134.72 and Sh115.6 per litre, respectively, while the cost of kerosene was unchanged. It is said that consumers would have paid a record Sh155.11 for petrol, Sh143.16 for diesel and Sh130.44 for kerosene had the state not intervened.
However, the government is aware of the serious national ramifications a steep increase in fuel prices would cause, especially just four months before the August elections. However, the subsidy kitty is running dry with government officials terming the fund “unsustainable”.
“Moving forward the situation might get out of hand. Every single month there’s going to be a need for an extra Sh10 billion, sometimes even Sh15 billion to subsidise fuel prices,” Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani said in an interview with NTV last week.
A popular journalist, Yvonne Okwara reports:
“JUST IN: Rubis Energy CEO Jean-Christian Bergeron to be deported from the country after EPRA promised stern action on oil marketers hoarding fuel in the country.
“EPRA cited some oil marketers for diverting some of their loadings to export leaving the local market to suffer intermittent supply and proposed reducing their quota for the next 3 import cycles.
“Meanwhile Kenya Pipeline confirmed that they have enough fuel stocks for both local and regional consumption. Leaving no doubt on whom they were pinning the blame regarding the fuel crisis witnessed over the last 3 weeks.”
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