Transport

Shipping lines set sights on Sh40bn Kipevu Oil Terminal

kipevu

The ongoing construction of the 40 Billion new Kipevu Oil Terminal in this photo taken on 24th November 2021. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NMG

The new Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) at the Port of Mombasa has continued to attract interest to the shipping lines that plan to invest and increase their business once it is officially commissioned in March this year.

Some representatives of shipping lines among them Inchcape Shipping Services, SturrockShipping and Nisomar (NSM) Limited this week toured the terminal where they promised to invest and continue to work with the port management to increase the throughput of liquid cargo at the port.

“We are impressed by the project and we are in agreement that the terminal will enhance efficiency and position Mombasa as the centre for handling petroleum in the region,” read part of the joint statement by shipping agents.

This week, more petroleum stakeholders are expected to tour the facility including the Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) which will be accompanied by the National Petroleum Authority of Ghana.

Kenya seeks to use the Sh40 billion new terminal to dominate petroleum business in the Indian Ocean Coast countries and East African region. The terminal is set to become the region’s petroleum products feeding hub to compete with Dar es Salaam which has been the main hub in the business for years.

In a bid to raise the profile of the Kipevu terminal, Kenya has begun converting the defunct Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) Changamwe facility in Mombasa few kilometres from the new terminal as a storage facility for fuel and liquified petroleum gas (LPG).

Kenya’s Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau said all procedures for Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to take over KPRL are about to be concluded to make the facility a feeding hub for bigger petroleum vessels.

Mr Kamau said Kipevu terminal will serve as both import and export facility, since it has “intake and offload mechanism” where bigger ships can offload fuel and stored in KPRL facility, before being pumped back to smaller vessels which can load products and supply to other Indian Ocean Islands such as Zanzibar, Seychelles, Mauritius and other countries which lack such facility at a relatively low cost.

“The construction of KOT and its periphery facilities are meant not only to supply Kenya with cheap gas and other petroleum products, but it will ensure there’s an adequate and steady supply of such products in the East African and other Indian Oceans Island,” said Mr Kamau.

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