UNOC takes full charge of petroleum storage terminal in Jinja

One Petroleum Limited (OPL), a consortium that has been managing and operating the Jinja Storage Terminal (JST) alongside Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) recently quit.

This means that UNOC will totally be in charge of the petroleum products storage facility in Jinja city. Finance minister Matia Kasaija and Ruth Nankabirwa, the energy minister, attended the handover function held Friday morning.

The storage facility has been under the management of a joint venture partnership between One Petroleum Limited (OPL) consortium and UNOC.

In 2017, UNOC partnered with the consortium comprising Petroleum Uganda Limited and Mbaraki Bulk Terminal Limited to operate and manage JST.

During the handover, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UNOC Proscovia Nabanja assured shareholders that all arrangements have been made to ensure a seamless transition and continuity of operations.

“UNOC thanks OPL for the partnership and we assure all stakeholders of JST the continued optimal functioning,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Dr Ruth Nankabirwa noted that the facility was constructed in the 1970s to enable the government to store imported fuel.

“The demand has grown due to the population growth while the number of vehicles in Uganda has also increased,” she said adding that “We need to manage this facility very well and also to plan for more tanks to be constructed somewhere else. We have high hopes that the tanks under construction at Namuwabula, Mpigi with the capacity to store more than 300M litres will be a great addition to this facility.”

The Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Matia Kasaija assured UNOC of support in the attainment of its mandate-ensuring the State’s commercial interests in the oil and gas sub-sector.

UNOC is mandated to handle the government of Uganda’s commercial interests in the petroleum sub-sector and to ensure that the resource is exploited sustainably.