Uganda has secured a 20.15 percent stake in the Kenya Pipeline Company ahead of the company’s planned initial public offering on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, in a move framed by officials as a measure to reinforce long term fuel supply security within the region.
The decision, approved by Uganda’s Cabinet on 24 February 2026, authorises the Uganda National Oil Company to participate directly in the share offering. According to Energy and Mineral Development Minister Ruth Nankabirwa, the investment reflects the structural importance of Kenya’s pipeline network to Uganda’s energy economy.
Official figures indicate that more than 95 percent of Uganda’s annual petroleum imports, estimated at approximately 2.96 billion litres, transit from the port of Mombasa through Kenya before onward transportation into Uganda. The remaining volumes are imported through Tanzania. The centrality of this corridor has long shaped Uganda’s downstream petroleum policy and its engagement within the East African Community.
Kenya plans to retain a 35 percent shareholding in the Kenya Pipeline Company while offering the remaining 65 percent to the public through the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The listing forms part of Kenya’s broader state enterprise reform and capital markets deepening strategy. Within this evolving ownership structure, Uganda’s participation introduces a cross border sovereign shareholding dimension to what will become a publicly traded entity.
Minister Nankabirwa confirmed that Uganda’s stake is accompanied by negotiated governance protections. These include veto powers over changes to pipeline tariffs, dividend policy, share capital adjustments, alterations to the company’s business plan and amendments to its memorandum and articles of association. If implemented as described, these provisions would provide Uganda with oversight in areas directly affecting transit costs and continuity of supply.
The Kenya Pipeline Company, established in 1973, manages the bulk transportation of refined petroleum products across Kenya and facilitates regional distribution to neighbouring states. Its infrastructure underpins fuel access not only for Kenya and Uganda but also for parts of the wider Great Lakes region. As such, ownership restructuring carries implications beyond national borders.
The Uganda National Oil Company, which operates as the sole importer of petroleum products destined for Uganda under current arrangements, has increasingly consolidated responsibility for midstream and downstream coordination. The policy framework guiding this mandate is articulated by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, which emphasises supply security, affordability and regional cooperation.
From a regional perspective, the transaction reflects the interdependence of African economies whose infrastructure networks cross sovereign boundaries. Uganda’s equity participation does not displace Kenya’s majority position but embeds a formalised stake within a system on which it heavily relies. At the same time, Kenya’s decision to proceed with partial privatisation signals confidence in its regulatory institutions and capital market capacity to manage strategic assets within a mixed ownership model.
The transaction remains subject to final IPO terms and regulatory approvals. However, the arrangement illustrates how African governments are navigating the balance between commercial liberalisation and public interest considerations in essential infrastructure. It also highlights the evolving character of intra African investment, where states act not only as trading partners but as co investors in shared systems that sustain economic and social life across the continent.
