Kenya has slashed pipeline tariffs by 50 per cent as it seeks to win back oil importers from landlocked countries to its network, after it lost the regional fuel transport market to Tanzania’s port of Dar es Salaam.

The tariffs scheduled to be gazetted by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority set the rate at $30.89 per 1,000 litres from the previous $60 for the same volume.

The three year revision will see the rates fall further fall marginally to $30.65 in 2020 and to $29.07 in 2021.

Currently, it costs $60 per 1,000 litres of fuel that passes through the Kenyan pipeline and a further $35 on trucks to and from destination countries, compared with an average of $80 to move oil via Tanzania’s Central Corridor road network to and from Dar es Salaam.

The tariff revision is hot on the heels of an announcement by Tanzania last week that it was forming a task force operating a One Stop Centre at the Dar port to improve efficiency.

Works, Communications and Transport Minister Isaack Kamwelwe said the team will bring together at least 20 stakeholder organisations from key institutions, both public and private, involved in cargo clearance at the port.