Dire Situation as Fuel Shortage Hits North Rift Towns (Photos)

Motorists were on the better part of Sunday and Monday left stranded after fuel shortages hit most parts of the North Rift towns.

In Kapsabet town in Nandi county, long queues of vehicles and motorcycles were witnessed in the few operating gas stations, as motorists scrambled for fuel.

 At the Shell Petrol Station in Kapsabet for example, thousands of motorcycle operators were left stranded as station operators were overwhelmed by the big demands. Most of the stations in the town had already closed down after their tanks ran dry.

This was the same scenario in Eldoret town, where most motorists had to line up for hours before they could get served. Some complained of high prices due to the itch, with some claiming some stations were charging as high as Ksh160 from the usual Ksh134 for Super Petrol.

The situation was not different at Kabarnet town which seats miles away from Kapsabet. From the pictures shared online, stranded motorists could be seen flocking Kenol petrol station, which was among the few stations in the town remaining with some fuel.

It was not immediately clear what led to the acute shortage, as the Kenya Pipeline had not commended on the matter.

This comes just a few days after the Energy and Petroleum Regulation Authority EPRA announced new petrol prices in the country for the months of March-April.

The regulator increased petrol and diesel prices by Ks5 from the previous price, citing escalations in the international markets as a result of the ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine.

Kenya consumes an estimated 165.45 million litres of super petrol every month, based on the latest figures from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).