Rwanda has activated a new route for importing refined petroleum products through Kenya, with a 40,000-tonne maiden cargo arriving at the Kipevu Oil Terminal in Mombasa.
The shipment aboard the MT Sea Wolf is the first under a new Rwanda-Kenya framework designed to use Kenya’s port and pipeline infrastructure to supply fuel to the landlocked country through the Northern Corridor.
The development gives Rwanda an additional channel for bringing in petroleum products as the two countries deepen cooperation on regional logistics and energy supply.
Rwanda’s Minister of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Armand Zingiro, and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, James Opiyo Wandayi, attended the ceremony marking the cargo’s arrival.
Zingiro said the route would provide Rwanda with a reliable and cost-effective means of importing fuel.
Wandayi said the shipment demonstrated Kenya’s role as a regional logistics hub and followed almost three years of cooperation between the two governments.
The arrangement is based on a memorandum of understanding signed on June 29 between Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.
It is further supported by a tripartite agreement involving the two ministries and Rwanda National Energy Company (RNEC), Rwanda’s state energy company.
The Kenya Pipeline Company and RNEC have also signed an agreement covering the movement and storage of Rwanda’s petroleum imports, including scheduling and handling at Kenya’s pipeline and terminal facilities.
The new system allows Rwanda to tap Kenya’s established petroleum infrastructure from the coast, with the Northern Corridor providing the regional transport link.
For Kenya, the arrangement strengthens the use of its Mombasa-based infrastructure as a gateway for supplying landlocked markets in the region.
The route adds to the Rwanda’s options for securing petroleum supplies through regional trade and logistics cooperation.
