Sh43bn Nairobi-Mombasa pipeline completion is postponed yet again

The construction of a new Nairobi-Mombasa petroleum pipeline will once more delay for three months before completion in December, limiting the country to the current old line that is prone to leakages.

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), the agency overseeing the construction, on Wednesday said the planned “September 30 is not feasible to complete the works.”

This is the second time the completion deadline of the Sh43 billion project has been postponed. The contractor had initially settled for February 9.

“The earliest will be December,” KPC said in response to our queries.

The company had in April blamed the missed deadlines on protracted legal battles precipitated by firms that lost bids for the contract and delays in securing the National Construction Authority (NCA) waiver.

A consortium led by Lebanon’s Zakhem is building the new 20-inch multi-product pipeline to replace the existing one, which was constructed by the same company in 1978.
Sections of the existing 14-inch pipeline have suffered major corrosion, leading to partial blockages and inefficiencies.

The old line suffered a leakage last weekend, sparking fears of supply shortages in the country.

The line has been pumping refined petroleum for the past 38 years beyond its lifespan of 30 years.

KPC set August 11, 2014 as the commencement date for the new pipeline project — popularly known as “Line 1 replacement”.

The project’s scope also included construction of four new mainline pumps in Changamwe, Maungu, Mtito Andei and Sultan Hamud and two booster pumps in Kipevu.

The KPC last year also suffered a major oil spill on the pipeline in Kibwezi, Makueni County that contaminated the place.

The government plans to construct a larger docking facility for bigger oil tankers from early next year as the country races to expand its petroleum storage tanks to boost reserves and stabilise fuel pump prices.

The planned offshore jetty in the port of Mombasa will result in the relocation of the existing Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) which has a smaller capacity.

Refined petroleum products are offloaded at the KOT and transferred to Kipevu Oil Storage Facility (Kosf) in the coastal town for storage before being released to the pipeline for distribution.

Another consortium, led by India’s Prashanth Project Limited, is expanding KPC’s fuel terminal in Nairobi at a cost of Sh4.8 billion. The expansion is meant to enable the facility to hold more petroleum products as the country awaits completion of the new pipeline.

Storage tanks

The contract involves the building of four storage tanks with a capacity of 133.52 million litres —equivalent to 22 per cent of KPC’s total capacity of 612.32 million litres within 24-months.

The Nairobi terminal with a capacity of 100,528 cubic meters is currently the second largest after the Kipevu oil storage facility (Kosf) that holds 326,333 cubic meters of petroleum products.

The country has no strategic reserves currently and relies on oil marketers’ 21-day oil reserves required under industry regulations. This has prompted the need for bigger oil storage tanks.

Sector players argue the country, which is a net importer of oil, would have reaped more benefits from the recent crash in global oil prices had it invested in bigger storage facilities.