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Kenya to construct new oil jetty to serve regional countries

Xinhua, January 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) said on Wednesday that it will start construction of an oil jetty in the lakeside city of Kisumu from March as part of plans to make Kenya the regional transportation hub for petroleum products in East and Central Africa.

KPC placed a notice in the dailies inviting companies to tender for construction of Kisumu oil jetty which will facilitate safe transportation of petroleum product through Lake Victoria to the neighboring countries.

KPC's Managing Director Joe Sang said the Sinendet-Kisumu Pipeline (Line 6) operationalized in April 2016 now ensures ample petroleum product volumes is available in the Western Kenya region and the export market of Uganda, Eastern DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, and Northern Tanzania.

"Construction of the jetty is now commercially feasible following completion of Line 6 which has increased product flow to Kisumu depot by 350,000 liters per hour from the previous 110,000 liters per hour," said Sang.

Line 6 is a 57 million U.S. dollar 122km 10-inch diameter pipeline parallel to an existing 6-inch diameter pipeline from Sinendet to Kisumu (Line 3).

Sang said the new line has ended fuel shortages in Western Kenya with sufficient supplies to the region and to the neighboring countries.

KPC is currently undertaking a number of large scale energy infrastructure projects aimed at tapping growth opportunities in the regional oil and gas sector.

The construction of the jetty is expected to take six months and will increase KPC's competitive edge in the region as the leading oil transporter.

The jetty is expected to boost throughput in Kisumu by one million liters a year in phase one and up to three million liters per year by 2028.

Sang said the new line will turn Kisumu into a focal point of oil and gas commerce in the region through safe transportation of fuel across the lake using properly certified barges and ships.

"The Target market is around the lake and expanding the export market into Uganda and mines in northern Tanzania. The jetty will also create integrated marine fuel transportation in the region making it more efficient and commercially viable and reduce transportation costs for the oil marketing companies," said Sang.

The additional petroleum product will also enhance optimization of tank utilization in Kisumu, which previously stood at 30 percent.

The full tank capacity for the port town is 39 million liters. The annual demand for petroleum products in western Kenya is 1.1 billion liters whereas the regional demand stands at 3.3 billion liters.

The company is currently constructing the Mombasa-Nairobi Pipeline replacement Project (Line 5) which is scheduled to be completed this year. Endit