President Kenyatta To Inspect Works At The New KPA Kipevu Oil Terminal

NAIROBI,Kenya, Jan, 5 – President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to inspect the progress of ongoing works at the new Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) on the January,6, 2022.

The new KOT is an off-shore facility located at the Port of Mombasa, opposite to the existing Kipevu Oil Terminal.

The project consists of one offshore island terminal with four berths whose total length is 770m, one work boat wharf at Westmont area for landing facilities.

It also has five sub-sea pipelines which were buried 26meters under the seabed to allow for future dredging of the channel without interfering with the pipes.

There are risers each dedicated to a separate oil product and six onshore pipelines each dedicated to a separate oil product connecting the terminal  to the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) and Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) storage tanks.

Other support facilities of the KOT project include electrical power distribution system which is drawn from a substation on-shore. It also has an elaborate water supply and drainage system, firefighting and detection facilities, telecommunications SCADA and control monitoring systems, and navigation aids.

The project which started in February 2019, is being constructed by the China Communication Construction Company at a contract price of Ksh. 40 billion for a contract period of 40moths. The project is therefore on schedule despite challenges occasioned by Covid-19 Pandemic interferences. Currently, the project is at 96 percent complete and is expected to be ready and tested for operations by end of March 2022.

Once complete the new oil terminal facility will have four berths (one not fully equipped)  capable of handling six different hydrocarbon import and export products; it is also fitted with a Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) facility, crude oil and heavy fuel oil. It also has provisions for handling three types of white oil products (DPK – aviation fuel, AGO – diesel and PMS – petrol). 

The Terminal will for a start be able to accommodate three ships concurrently with a capacity of 200,000 tons each. A fourth berth has already been constructed provisionally, which will be fitted with facilities in future commensurate with demand, to be able to handle four ships at a go.

This new Oil Terminal will effectively replace the old Kipevu Oil Terminal situated on the mainland Port Reitz, which was built in 1963 to serve the then East Africa Oil Refinery (EAOR) which later became the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL).

The Old KOT is a single jetty with a capacity to accommodate only one vessel at any given time. Then the discharge pipe sizes were smaller, product and discharge flow rates were also much slower although they served well at the time.

“The new terminal which is faster and more modern will have various benefits to the economies of the region. Key among them include:reduced vessel turn-around time from 4 days to 2 days, guaranteed security of supply for the region, expected significant reduction in demurrage costs, expected reduced freight costs owing to improved cargo handling capacities and leverages associated with larger economics of scale,” said Ag. Managing Director, John Mwangemi.

Enhanced vessel operational flexibility through the increased vessel handling capacity,enhanced LPG importation facilities which will lead to possible reduction of LPG costs and more LPG uptake in the Country, improved fuel handling in cases of quality challenges and the customers will benefit from economies of scale as bigger 

vessels call the port with reduced freight.