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Platform to weed out trade in substandard oil and gas goods

gas,oil

A trader displays gas cylinders in Nyeri town.. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Trade in oil and gas is expected to be tightly monitored with the launch of a new information and communication technology system set to weed out substandard goods.

Management consulting services company Advantech has been appointed advisor on the improvement at the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in a World Bank-backed project.

The ERC is expected to better monitor the use of energy services.

The company, which advised on the setting up of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) among other projects, will manage a team that will build the system to provide information and data on the border entry of, for instance, gas cylinders.

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Oil delivery system

The system will also observe information on the oil delivery system without having to be physically at the sites.

“Our work is basically to review the regulatory mandate of the ERC and advise on system requirements with a view to improving it.

We will draw up the specifications. We are to advise on how all systems will work together to assist the ERC to deliver on its mandate,” said Advantech managing director Joseph Waruingi.

The Regulatory Management Information System (RMIS) intends to address challenges in the sector as part of the bigger Kenya Petroleum Technical Assistance project (KEPTAP) financed by the World Bank.

With the information from various parts of the country and the entry points into the country, the intention will be to keep standards and also prevent quacks from getting into the gas and petroleum business.

“It will be possible to tell who is the service provider selling illegal cylinders, what fuel has entered the pipeline, when it arrives at the tankers. It is a very specific system,” said Mr Waruingi.

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Advisory work

He said the advisory work is supposed to be complete by September next year.
The actual building of the system begins next January with testing coming after June.

Advantech – whose main work is in ICT strategy advisory, monitoring and evaluation, supply chain as well as management of grants to government departments from donors – also plans to extend work to Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal where it is currently in discussions with potential partners for collaboration in projects.

This will be followed by search for similar partners in other French-speaking and Lusophone countries.