New Petroleum CS Visits KPC and Urges Quicker Completion of Key Projects

Cabinet Secretary for Petroleum and Mining John Munyes

New Cabinet Secretary for Petroleum and Mining John Munyes wants Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) to go the extra mile and complete key projects on time.

The CS spoke on Wednesday at a meeting with the corporation’s directors and management.

KPC is currently undertaking a number of essential petroleum infrastructure projects to enhance the availability of fuel in Kenya and neighbouring countries.

The projects that are now in the last phases include the new Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline (Line 5), the storage tanks at the Nairobi Terminal and the Kisumu Oil Jetty.

“You have a huge responsibility in ensuring that fuel gets to our people in time for them to take part in nation building,” the Cabinet Secretary said.

KPC chairman John Ngumi agreed that the state corporation is the nation’s economic lifeline. “We are cognizant of the projects’ strategic value and the scale of impact they are going to generate,” he said.    

KPC Managing Director Joe Sang reassured Munyes and his team that all the projects will be completed in two months.

Boosting fuel exports

“Kisumu Oil Jetty is now complete and the contractor is handing over the project to us on February 28, 2018. The Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline and the additional storage tanks in Nairobi will be complete by March 31, 2018 and April 30, 2018 respectively,” said Sang.

“The Kisumu Oil Jetty will go a long way towards boosting fuel exports to East Africa through Uganda and Tanzania. The jetty is expected to boost throughput in Kisumu by 1 billion litres a year in phase 1 and up to 3 billion litres per year by 2028,” the KPC boss added.

Sang also told the CS that the installation of additional loading facilities to cope with the rising demand for petroleum products at KPC’s Eldoret depot, which serves Western Kenya and the neighbouring countries, is complete. The new facility is expected to enhance the country’s fuel exports in the medium to long term.

“Since the new truck loading facility became operational in July last year, evacuation of product in Eldoret has increased from 4 million litres per day to a massive 6.5 million litres per day,” Sang said.