Museveni and Samia strike petroleum deal to boost East Africa’s fuel security

Uganda and Tanzania have strengthened their energy partnership with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding to develop the Tanga Regional Energy Hub. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda highlighted the initiative's potential to enhance regional energy security, trade, and industrialization. The hub, which will connect Tanzania's emerging energy infrastructure with Uganda's planned refining capacity, aims to help East Africa capture greater value from its petroleum resources.

Museveni emphasized that the Tanga Hub, alongside Uganda's Hoima Refinery, will ensure that petroleum resources create more value through refining, storage, logistics, and manufacturing. This approach aligns with a Pan-African strategy to work together for prosperity. The agreement positions Tanga as a hub for Uganda and Tanzania's expanding petroleum partnership, supporting refining, storage, and logistics activities.

The project complements Uganda's efforts to diversify its petroleum supply routes, reducing reliance on Kenya for imported refined fuel. Additionally, it aligns with Uganda's plans to develop its domestic petroleum-processing capacity through the Hoima Refinery. Together, these developments could transform East Africa's petroleum trade, with Uganda increasingly processing crude oil locally and Tanzania emerging as a regional energy gateway.

For Kenya, this shift may introduce competition for Uganda's fuel imports, but for Uganda and Tanzania, it represents a broader vision of creating an integrated regional petroleum value chain.