Bushenyi oil leaked from pump fuel station: Energy Ministry

Bushenyi, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The oil spill that caused excitement in Kazinda town council, Ishaka municipality in Bushenyi district last week was a result of a leakage from one of the pump fuel stations according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. Last week, residents of Mastya village found kerosene freely flowing in their area from underground.

As a result, the Energy Ministry dispatched a technical team from Petroleum Supply Department to pick samples from the alleged wells and conduct an offsite survey. The team conducted surveys at BAM, Vivo, Shell Kizinda and Jeruda pump fuel stations.

The team discovered a leakage from a 30,000-litre Kerosene tank at BAM Kizinda filling station. The filling station lost 8,000 liters of Kerosene over two months. The company has pumped the remaining fuel from the underground tank and hired a contractor to excavate the leaking tank.

The ministry says the owner of the outlet has confirmed the anomaly, saying the manager neglected stock reconciliation for kerosene whose turnover is always low. Apollo Baimukye, the proprietor of BAM Kizinda filling station declined to comment on the findings and instead referred our reporter to the Energy Ministry.

Vincent Kataate, the senior Bushenyi district environment officer said the clarification by the Energy Ministry is a huge relief, saying people from different areas had started rushing to Kizinda-Kigooma town council to buy plots of land with the hope of cashing in on the new discovery.

He however explained that they decided to remain silent since he is well aware that oil is mined in crude form before it is refined to produce different oil products.

Andrew Basiime, a resident of Mastya village says that revelation by the ministry is heartbreaking because they had hope of getting compensation money from the government.

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