Kenya and Rwanda open new fuel corridor as first oil cargo berths in Mombasa
Hon. James Opiyo Wandayi, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum and Hon. Armand Zingiro, Minister of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Republic of Rwanda lead a delegation of representatives from the Kenyan and Rwandan Government to celebrate the arrival of MT Sea Wolf, Rwanda's maiden petroleum cargo carrying 40,000 metric tonnes of refined petroleum products at Kenya Pipeline Company's Kipevu Oil Terminal 2.
Kenya and Rwanda have established a new petroleum import route through the Northern Corridor, with the arrival of a 40,000-metric-tonne cargo of refined fuel at the Kenya Pipeline Company’s Kipevu Oil Terminal 2 (KOT2), marking a shift in how Kigali sources its energy supplies.
The vessel, MT Sea Wolf, carried the maiden consignment for the Rwanda National Energy Company (RNEC). The ceremony was presided over by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, James Opiyo Wandayi, and Rwanda’s Minister of State in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Armand Zingiro, who jointly activated the route.
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“This is a proud milestone for Kenya and for our partnership with Rwanda,” Mr Wandayi said. “The arrival of this maiden cargo through Kipevu is the practical result of nearly three years of close collaboration between our two governments, and it confirms Kenya’s position as an important logistics gateway for the region.”
The arrangement, which took nearly three years to negotiate, rests on a framework agreement designed to re-establish the Northern Corridor as Rwanda’s principal conduit for refined petroleum imports. It draws on Kenya’s port infrastructure, pipeline network and logistics ecosystem.
At its legal core is a Memorandum of Understanding signed on June 29, 2026, between Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and Rwanda’s Ministry of Trade and Industry.
The framework is further underpinned by a Tripartite Agreement involving both ministries and RNEC, alongside a Transport and Storage Agreement between KPC and RNEC covering the transportation, storage, scheduling and handling of Rwandan fuel imports through Kenyan pipeline and terminal infrastructure.
For Rwanda, a landlocked nation that has historically depended on lengthy and costly overland supply chains, the new route is intended to deliver both reliability and savings.
“This new route through the Northern Corridor will give Rwanda a reliable and cost-effective way to import refined petroleum products our economy depends on,” Mr Zingiro said. “We thank our Kenyan counterparts for their partnership in bringing this framework to life.”
The two governments frame the deal as a practical expression of regional integration under the East African Community and the African Continental Free Trade Area. Officials expect it to strengthen regional energy security, improve supply-chain efficiency and reduce logistical costs for Rwanda’s petroleum sector.
