South Sudan Warns Oil Marketers Over Illegal Fuel Imports Outside Kenya G-to-G Deal

South Sudan has warned oil marketing companies against importing fuel outside its Government-to-Government (G-to-G) arrangement with Kenya, saying any unauthorised shipments risk being seized and could lead to the revocation of operating licences.

Correspondence seen by Business Daily shows that the South Sudan Ministry of Petroleum issued the warning on June 24 after reports emerged that some oil marketers were bypassing the official import framework to supply cheaper fuel into the country.

Under the current G-to-G arrangement, Kenya’s Pacific Petroleum is the designated importer of petrol and diesel into South Sudan. The company supplies licensed oil marketing companies that distribute fuel in the country’s retail market.

According to the report, Pacific Petroleum acknowledged importing more expensive fuel cargoes outside the G-to-G framework following supply disruptions linked to the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran.

The higher prices are said to have encouraged some marketers to divert fuel originally destined for the Democratic Republic of Congo to South Sudan in an effort to sell cheaper products.

“We would like to inform all OMCs (oil marketing companies) to comply and lift stocks nominated as per the signed SPAs from the supplier as we finalise the South Sudan Energy that will immediately take up the role and communications in future,” South Sudan’s Undersecretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, Santino Dau, said in a letter dated June 24, 2026.

“We are working with all security apparatus to ensure the border is manned and regulated going forward. Any stocks not originating from the manifest of stocks imported for South Sudan shall be impounded at the border. Any sabotage to this arrangement will be met with legal action and licence revocation,” he added.

A memo cited by Business Daily indicates that one of the disputed fuel cargoes was priced at $1,350 per cubic metre of diesel and $1,000 per cubic metre of petrol.

Oil marketers operating in South Sudan have reportedly argued that the prices are uncompetitive and differ significantly from those agreed under the country’s G-to-G import programme.

Meanwhile, Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has disclosed that Pacific Petroleum has recently experienced challenges evacuating fuel from the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) system and Gapco terminals, which are owned by TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya.

The challenges prompted Petroleum Principal Secretary Kello Harsama to convene a meeting with industry players to address the bottlenecks.

“In the recent past, Pacific Petroleum has faced several challenges in the implementation of the import arrangement, notably slow evacuation of product from the Gapco terminal and the KPC system,” Harsama said in a letter dated June 22, 2026.

“To this end, we wish to invite you to a joint SDP, KPC and EPRA meeting to deliberate on the most efficient way of handling the RSS import arrangement without negatively impacting the Kenyan Government-to-Government import framework,” he added.

The meeting brought together Pacific Petroleum, Be Energy, Asharami Synergy, Galana Energies, One Petroleum, Oryx Energies and Gulf Energy, all of which participate in Kenya’s G-to-G fuel import programme.

Kenya currently imports fuel under long-term agreements with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Trading Fujairah FZE, Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC Global Trading Ltd and Emirates National Oil Company Singapore Ltd.

The correspondence did not disclose the specific reasons behind Pacific Petroleum’s difficulties in evacuating fuel from KPC and Gapco facilities, although the delays suggest that cargoes earmarked for South Sudan have not been lifted as scheduled.

A separate memo also indicates that South Sudan has temporarily suspended requests to amend fuel quantities allocated under the import programme.

“Kindly note that KRA has received a memo that amendments relating to South Sudan should not be approved at this time,” the memo stated.

South Sudan is the third East African country to adopt a Government-to-Government fuel import arrangement, following Kenya and Uganda, as countries in the region seek to improve fuel supply security and reduce exposure to price volatility in global spot markets.

Kenya introduced its G-to-G fuel import programme in March 2023, Uganda adopted a similar arrangement in 2024 through Vitol Bahrain, while South Sudan launched its programme in March this year. Rwanda became the fourth country to embrace the model last month after signing an agreement with Oman’s OQ Trading.

South Sudan has also announced that its state-owned company, South Sudan Energy, will take over the role of fuel importer from Pacific Petroleum as the country strengthens state control over fuel imports.