According to Opirah Robert, the Head of Petroleum Unit at Ministry of Trade and Industry, the new storage facilities are expected to hold 35 million litres of petroleum. Today, all the facilities in the country hold a total of 30 million litres.

The facilities being built by different oil dealers would cost about $30m to complete, said Eugene Kayigamba, the Vice-President of the Rwanda Fuel Importers Association.

“This will help counter fluctuations in fuel prices on the local market, which are mostly caused by the volatility of international prices and insufficient oil reserves,” Opirah said.

He noted that bigger fuel reserves were essential to ensure the country has enough fuel to supply the market and stabilise pump prices. He, however, noted that the high transport fees from Mombasa and Dar es Salaam ports would continue to cause fluctuation in fuel prices if more facilities were not built.

“Increasing the capacity of oil reserves should have been done yesterday. This is the only way to mitigate the challenge of decline in commercial stocks, leading to prices hikes. It is also a business opportunity since we are a transit route to some of the neighbouring countries,” Kayigamba said.

Currently, total fuel storage capacity is split between the government and the five oil dealers with depots at Gatsata in Kigali, Kabuye, Rwabuye in the Southern Province and Kigali International Airport, Kanombe.

The government reserves at Rwabuye store about 3.6 million litres and five million litres at the Bigogwe facility.

The government targets to have at least 150 million litres by 2017, which it projects could run the country for about four years in case the supply chain is interrupted for a long period, Opirah revealed.

The government has been encouraging private investors to build fuel storage facilities to boost the country’s oil reserves. So far, Oilcom, Abbarci Petroleum Marketing Company (ABBARCI), ORYX Petroleum, PROTEK and Mount Meru Petroleum Rwanda have already started building new oil storage facilities.

According to Opirah, work on the different projects is expected to be completed by 2017, which will accommodate the increasing fuel demand in the country.

“We encouraged the private sector to spearhead the construction of the facilities because we believe it is one way of empowering them,” Opirah said.