The Rwanda-Kenya refined petroleum products import framework supports the national effort to build strategic fuel reserves and will help to reduce the impact of global shocks, said Armand Zingiro, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure.

Rwanda and Kenya on Tuesday, September 29 celebrated the arrival of the MT Sea Wolf, carrying the Rwanda National Energy Company’s (RNEC) maiden cargo of 40,000 tonnes of refined petroleum products at the Kenya Pipeline Company’s Kipevu Oil Terminal 2 (KOT2) at Mombasa port.

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"Rwanda’s own storage capacity is being expanded, and the extended storage terms Kenya has offered us here at Kipevu give us further flexibility while that capacity comes on stream,” Zingiro said after he and Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum James Opiyo Wandayi received the shipment.

He said the move matters for ordinary Rwandans.

"Government support has helped keep fuel prices more stable than they would otherwise be, protecting the cost of transport, agriculture and everyday life, and a more secure supply chain through Kenya strengthens our ability to sustain that protection. I would also note that our own institutions’ recent investment in the KPC, following its listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, is a further sign of how closely bound our two economies have become,” he said.

Rwanda imports all its petroleum products.

Zingiro said this year has reminded countries how quickly instability far from their borders, from disruptions to international shipping lanes to volatility in global oil markets, can be felt at local fuel pumps.

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"Our government’s response has been deliberate, to diversify our import routes and reduce our exposure to any single corridor or supplier,” Zingiro explained.

"This framework with Kenya, alongside the new route we have opened through the Port of Tanga (in Tanzania), is the practical expression of that strategy, and it replaces what were largely commercial arrangements with a direct government-to-government framework that gives Rwanda greater control over how our fuel is procured, transported and stored.”

The fuel arrival activated the new route through which Rwanda will import bulk refined petroleum products through the Northern Corridor.

"We look forward to many more vessels following in the wake of MT Sea Wolf,” the minister added.

The framework is underpinned by a Memorandum of Understanding between Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, signed on June 29.

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Tenfold growth in fuel exports to Rwanda expected

Cabinet Secretary Wandayi said that Kenya is ready to be Rwanda’s gateway to global energy markets and the preferred route for petroleum imports through the Northern Corridor.

"For Kenya, this is about more than a single cargo. This framework is projected to grow the volume of petroleum products moving through our Northern Corridor to Rwanda tenfold over the coming years,” he said.

He reiterated that Kenya will provide a transit environment that guarantees security of supply of bulk refined petroleum products over the long term.

"It means directing our state agencies to give Rwanda-bound cargo the operational flexibility it needs as volumes grow, and it means continued Government support for investment in the national infrastructure that underpins this route. This is a long-term partnership, not a one-off gesture,” he noted.

He added that Kenya would provide not only a route for imported products but also finished petroleum products from the upcoming Lamu refinery, giving Rwanda and the wider region another dependable source of supply.