- Kenyan authorities are said to have revoked the work permit of the French chief executive of one of the country’s largest oil marketers.
- Christian Bergeron, the CEO of Rubis Energy Kenya, a subsidiary of the France-based Rubis Group is alleged to have been deported by the government amid a fuel scarcity issue.
- Experts blame delays in payment of fuel subsidies owing to oil merchants.
Kenyan authorities are said to have revoked the work permit of the French chief executive of one of the country’s largest oil marketers amid a fuel scarcity issue.
Christian Bergeron, the CEO of Rubis Energy Kenya, a subsidiary of the France-based Rubis Group, is alleged to have been deported by the government.
On Tuesday, the energy regulator accused several oil marketers of withholding fuel from the domestic market in order to prioritize exports to neighboring countries.
The authority stated that these enterprises would be penalized by having their fuel import volumes limited for the following three months.
Kenyan petroleum businesses sell roughly 65 percent of their imports on the domestic market and the rest to Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which are all landlocked.
In recent weeks, there has been a serious shortage of the commodity across the country, with long lines forming at pump stations.
Kenyan authorities claim that the storage facilities have ample supplies.
Some marketers may have been stockpiling fuel in expectation of a price hike when the regulator assesses rates for the next month on Thursday.
According to experts, the current crisis in Kenya is the result of a delay in the payment of fuel subsidies owing to oil merchants.
Last Monday, the administration released some of the payments that had been delayed.
Kenya subsidizes fuel prices to protect consumers from rising fuel prices at the pump.
Oil marketers, on the other hand, have complained about government delays in compensating them for the government-subsidized prices they charge consumers.