KPC Nairobi-Mombasa pipeline now 80 per cent complete

02 March 2017… The Nairobi-Mombasa oil pipeline, which is scheduled for completion end of April, is now 80 per cent complete.

The contractor, Zakhem International, has begun installation works for the 8 mainline pumps which have arrived in the country. Each of the line’s 4 stations (Maungu, Mtito Andei, Sultan Hamud and Changamwe) will have 2 mainline pumps each.

Four transformers for Line 5 are also in the country and installation works are underway. The transformers will be installed in the line’s 4 pump stations in Maungu, Mtito Andei, Sultan Hamud and Changamwe.

Four transformers for Line 5 are also in the country and installation works are underway. The transformers will be installed in the line’s 4 pump stations in Maungu, Mtito Andei, Sultan Hamud and Changamwe.
KPC’s Managing Director, Joe Sang said the project is still on course and will be ready for commissioning by mid this year.

“The new line once complete will adequately serve the country’s demand which is projected to be 6.8 billion litres in 2020,” said Sang in a statement to newsrooms.

The new line will enhance KPC’s pipeline devolution plan into the counties by increasing product availability in Nairobi that will feed into spur lines into Western Kenya, Central Kenya, Rift Valley and South Nyanza regions.
The new pipeline will also improve the reliability of fuel supply to the export market of Uganda, Rwanda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which in 2010 stood at 2.4 billion litres but has since risen to 3.5 billion litres in 2016.

With a one million litres per hour flow rate, the line will remove an average of about 700 trucks from the road daily at maximum utilization.
“This will enhance safety because pipeline transportation of fuel is the safest and most cost effective way of transporting petroleum products the world over. There will therefore be no tanker accidents, fuel fires, siphonings on our roads hence saving lives and conserving our environment,” said Sang.

KPC is replacing the existing Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline that has been in operation for 38 years. A Vision 2030 flagship project, the construction of the 20 inch diameter 450km pipeline will ensure sustained, reliable and efficient transportation of petroleum products in the region and meet demand in the next 30 years. The pipeline will have an installed flow rate of 1 million litres per hour in phase one.