David Ndii, Chairperson of President William Ruto's Council of Economic Advisors, on Sunday, April 16, disputed claims that local oil marketing companies (OMCs) were locked out in the deal pitting the Kenyan government and the Middle Eastern oil giants.
In a statement, Ndii was categorical that the Kenya Kwanza administration worked with all local OMCs in sealing the deal with the Saudi Arabian firms.
The economic adviser pointed out that the only aggrieved parties were international oil traders who felt shortchanged in the deal.
"There are no aggrieved OMCs to my knowledge. We’ve worked with all of them on the transaction. The only aggrieved parties are international oil traders who did not get the deal," Ndii noted.
96 local companies reportedly took Ruto's government to court, arguing that they were locked out of the process until 2024.
This is after they had placed their bids for the tender to import fuel into the country. The companies alleged that only three firms were handpicked for the lucrative deal and in turn edged them out of the market for a period of nine months.
The three local companies selected for the deal comprised Gulf Energies, Oryx and Galana Oil Kenya Limited.
On the other hand, the three Gulf companies involved in the deal included Saudi Arabia's richest oil firm, Aramco, Emirate's National Oil Company (NOC) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation Global Trading (ADNOC).
The deal came after Energy CS Davis Chirchir published new regulations regarding fuel importation into the country in January 2023.
The government-to-government deal also required local companies to competitively bid for the deal through the open-tender system.
Through the deal, the first consignment of fuel docked at the Kipevu Oil Terminal in Mombasa on Thursday, April 13. These involved two ships ferrying 165,00 metric tonnes of petrol, diesel and jet A-1 fuel at a cost of Ksh20 billion.
While backing the process, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua expressed confidence that the deal would enable the cost of fuel to go down and subsequently the cost of living.
"This is the right way of reducing the cost of fuel. Those who were telling us to bring back fuel subsidy, that is foolish, and we would like to inform the opposition that this is the new way to go," the DP stated.
