Kenya pipeline to commence operation in June 2011

It has been reported that Kenya will start operating a new 325 km (202 mile) multi-product oil pipeline from Nairobi to the western town of Eldoret by June 2011.

Kenya Pipeline Company awarded the contract for construction of the pipeline to China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Corporation (CPPE) in October 2009 at a cost of US$ 179,353,678. A consortium of Shengli Engineering and Consulting Company Limited and Runji and Partners Consulting Engineers are the project consultants, while M/S Floweserve is supplying the mainline pumps at a cost of €4,118,480.

The 14 in. diameter pipeline cost some US$ 200 million to build and will initially have the capacity to carry 390, 000 litres (103, 027 gallons) per hour.

Currently, the region is served by an 8 in. diameter petroleum pipeline from Nairobi to Burnt Forest, where it narrows to 6 in. diameter to Eldoret. Another 6 in. pipeline branches at Sinendet to Kisumu. The flow-rate to Western Kenya is currently 220,000 litres/hour.

Demand for energy is increasing in East Africa as economic growth accelerates amid a lack of infrastructure to supply fuels. Trucks carrying gasoline from the ports of Mombasa in Kenya and Tanzania’s city of Dar es Salaam are subjected to poor roads as they travel to countries in the region including Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The new pipeline may be upgraded to 600, 000 litres/hour in a second phase that will require the construction of two more pumping stations.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldpipelines.com/business-news/22102010/kenya_pipeline_to_commence_operation_in_june_2011/