President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni today presided over the groundbreaking of the Kampala Storage Terminal (KST) in Namwabula, Mpigi District, marking another major step in Uganda’s development of an integrated petroleum value chain.
The US$310 million facility, being developed by the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), will have capacity to store up to 320 million litres of refined petroleum products, significantly expanding Uganda’s strategic petroleum storage capacity.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, UNOC Board Chairperson Mathias Katamba said the terminal will strengthen Uganda’s ability to maintain adequate petroleum reserves and withstand disruptions along import corridors, global supply constraints and other external shocks.
Uganda currently consumes about 240 million litres of petroleum products every month, including petrol, diesel, jet fuel and kerosene. The KST will complement the existing 30-million-litre Jinja Storage Terminal and private-sector storage facilities, while providing capacity for Government strategic reserves, storage and handling services for Oil Marketing Companies, and distribution of petroleum products.
Located on approximately 300 acres at Namwabula Estate, the terminal will serve Kampala, the Central Region and other parts of the country, while positioning Uganda as a potential regional petroleum distribution hub.
Katamba said the project is also designed to integrate with Uganda’s planned refinery and downstream petroleum infrastructure.
The terminal will be linked to the refinery through a proposed 211-kilometre multi-products pipeline from Hoima and will incorporate the future Mpigi Remote Refinery Terminal (MRRT) for receiving, storing and dispatching locally refined petroleum products.
Once the refinery, pipeline, MRRT and KST are operational, Uganda will have an integrated system capable of receiving, storing and distributing both imported and domestically refined petroleum products.
The project forms part of Government’s commitments under the Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV), which seeks to increase national storage capacity for refined petroleum products from 99.1 million litres in FY2023/24 to 150 million litres by 2029/30, alongside the expansion of the Jinja Storage Terminal and preparation of regional strategic storage facilities.
Katamba noted that the terminal will also create opportunities for local employment, skills development and participation of Ugandan enterprises, while strengthening energy security and supporting industrialisation.
The KST groundbreaking comes two weeks after President Museveni named Uganda’s crude oil “Pearl Sweet”, as the country advances towards first oil, domestic refining and an integrated petroleum industry.
KST therefore adds a critical storage and distribution link to Uganda’s emerging petroleum infrastructure, connecting crude oil production and refining with the infrastructure required to reliably supply petroleum products to the domestic and regional markets.
