(JUBA) – South Sudan will seize fuel shipments arriving outside its official government to government import deal and cancel the licences of any company that breaches the rules, according to a government letter sent to oil marketing firms.
The Ministry of Petroleum warned all oil marketing companies on 24 June that cargoes shipped beyond the framework of the Government to Government arrangement, known as G to G, face impoundment at the border. The ministry said any sabotage of the arrangement would lead to legal action and the loss of operating licences.
South Sudan imports petrol and diesel under a G to G deal with Kenya’s Pacific Petroleum acting as the designated supplier. Pacific Petroleum then delivers fuel to licensed oil marketers serving the country’s retail market.
Pacific Petroleum confirmed it imported more expensive fuel cargoes outside the G to G framework after supply disruptions caused by the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. The higher cost cargoes pushed other oil marketers to redirect fuel originally bound for the Democratic Republic of Congo into South Sudan, as they sought to sell cheaper products.
Santino Dau, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Petroleum, told all oil marketing companies in the letter dated 24 June 2026 to comply with the rules and lift stocks nominated under signed sale and purchase agreements from the supplier. Mr Dau said this would apply while the state owned South Sudan Energy prepares to take over the role and handle future communications. He added that the ministry is working with all security agencies to man and regulate the border going forward.
A separate memo showed one of the disputed cargoes was priced at 1,350 US dollars per cubic metre of diesel and 1,000 US dollars per cubic metre of petrol. Kenyan oil marketers licensed to operate in South Sudan said these prices are uncompetitive and argued the premiums differ from those agreed under South Sudan’s G to G arrangement.
A letter from Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum showed Pacific Petroleum has recently faced challenges evacuating products from the Kenya Pipeline Company system and Gapco terminals. Gapco is owned by TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya. The difficulties prompted Petroleum Principal Secretary Kello Harsama to call a meeting with oil marketers to address the bottlenecks.
Mr Harsama said in a letter dated 22 June 2026 that Pacific Petroleum had faced several challenges, particularly slow evacuation of product from the Gapco terminal and the Kenya Pipeline Company system. He invited seven oil companies to a joint meeting with the State Department for Petroleum, Kenya Pipeline Company and the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority to discuss the most efficient way of handling the South Sudan import arrangement without harming Kenya’s own G to G import framework.
The seven companies invited were Pacific Petroleum, Be Energy, Asharami Synergy, Galana Energies, One Petroleum, Oryx Energies and Gulf Energy. All of them import fuel under Kenya’s G to G arrangement. Kenya imports fuel through state owned suppliers: Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Trading Fujairah FZE, Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC Global Trading Ltd and Emirates National Oil Company Singapore Ltd.
Mr Harsama did not give the reasons behind Pacific Petroleum’s difficulties in evacuating products from Kenya Pipeline Company and Gapco facilities. The delays suggest that nominated cargoes for South Sudan are not being lifted as scheduled.
A memo circulated to oil marketers also showed South Sudan has frozen requests to amend quantities allocated under the import programme. The memo said the Kenya Revenue Authority had been told not to approve any amendments relating to South Sudan at this time.
South Sudan is the third East African country to adopt a G to G fuel import arrangement, aiming to improve supply security and protect consumers from volatility in global spot markets. Kenya introduced its G to G framework in March 2023 through agreements with three Gulf suppliers. Uganda followed a year later with a deal involving Vitol Bahrain. South Sudan adopted its arrangement in March 2026. Rwanda became the fourth country last month after announcing a G to G agreement with Oman’s OQ Trading.
South Sudan has said its state owned South Sudan Energy will take over the importer role from Pacific Petroleum. Rwanda has also set up a state owned entity to manage its fuel imports, while Uganda imports fuel through the Uganda National Oil Company. This regional shift has increasingly put fuel imports in the hands of state backed entities, replacing the previous system under which dozens of oil marketers competed to import cargoes through open tenders.