Trinity Energy Limited chief executive officer Kennedy Mugambi has been caught in the simmering oil wars in that wartorn country. Trinity operates petrol stations in East and Central Africa with some in Kenya.
Together with the Sudanese oil tycoons, they plotted the downfall of Chol Deng Thon at South Sudan’s secretary’s chair of Petroleum in Juba.
A presidential decree signed by minister of Presidential Affairs Africano Mande Gedima saw Santino Ayuel Longar as his replacement under Republican Decree No 108/2026.
Before his removal, Chol had signed two of the most consequential letters of his turbulent tenure: allocation awards granting South Sudan’s sovereign crude oil to Chiang Wei LLC FZ and Euro American International Energy, the two trading companies that have quietly dominated Juba’s oil sector for years.
Within eight days, the same 600,000-barrel cargo was allocated three times to two different companies. South Sudan was paid at $70 a barrel while the oil was worth $100 on the open market.
Mugambi
Reference number RSS/MoP/J/O/U/3/26/262, dated March 27 2026 bears the official seal of the Republic of South Sudan and the signature of Chol.
The letter is addressed to Choul Laam, managing director of Chiang Wei LLC FZ. Its subject line reads: Nile Blend Final Award Letter for April 2026 Cargo to Chiang Wei LLC FZ. The cargo: 600,000 barrels of Nile Blend crude, loading window 30 April to 2 May 2026.
On the same date, reference number RSS/MOP/J/O/U/3/26/251, Chol signed an equivalent award letter addressed to Taha, managing director of Euro American International Energy, Dubai.
Then came a ministry of Finance and Planning letter, reference RSS/MOPF/J/VSF/03/2026-27 dated 31 March 2026, and an existing petroleum allocation letter reference RSS/MOP/J/U/O/25/086 dated December 23 2025, suggesting the Trinity arrangement was rooted in a preexisting commitment that predated Chol’s tenure entirely. Here Mugambi name features prominently.
A further allocation letter, attributed to the same 600,000-barrel loading window once more to Euro American International Energy DMCC, this time with authority for Euro American to retain the proceeds for application to government financing obligations.
The dismissal of Chol on March 27 2026 and his replacement by Santino Ayuel Longar was framed as a further corrective step. Neither action changed the underlying allocation architecture.
South Sudan produces approximately 150,000 barrels of crude per day, split between Nile Blend and Dar Blend grades, piped north through Sudan to the terminal at Port Sudan’s Bashayer facility.
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