China’s Sheng Li Engineering & Construction Company (SLECC) has been awarded the contract to oversee the construction of a new multipurpose oil pipeline in Kenya.
SLECC, which won the competitive tender in a joint venture with Kenya’s Kurrent Technologies, will design and supervise the implementation of the project, which is seen as being critical in addressing the perennial problems asso- ciated with the transportation of petroleum products in Kenya and neighbouring countries.
The project involves the construction of a parallel line from the coastal city of Mombasa to Nairobi at a cost of $400- million. Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) is currently seeking a contractor for the 450 km pipeline.
SLECC, which is involved in over 30 engineering-related fields, has over the past three decades participated in more than 60 oilfield surface engineering projects, both in China and in other countries.
The company is not new to Kenya, having undertaken the design and construction supervision of the Nairobi–Eldoret parallel pipeline capacity enhancement project and was also part of a consortium of three Chinese companies that constructed the Thika superhighway.
When completed in 2014, the new pipeline will replace the existing line, which is operating beyond its life span.
The existing 14-inch-diameter pipeline has been in operation for the last 35 years and is unable to meet rising demand for petroleum products despite the Kenya government having invested $92.4-million in 2008 to increase its flow rate from 440 m3/h to 880 m3/h.
Currently, Kenya and landlocked countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo depend on the pipeline for the transportation of petroleum products.
The new pipeline is designed to meet petroleum products demand from the Eastern African region to 2044.
The project is part of pipeline invest- ments that the authorities in East Africa are executing as the region becomes a crude hub, with huge deposits in South Sudan and discoveries having been made in recent years in Uganda and Kenya.
The Kenya government has already completed construction of the $167- million 14-inch-diameter 325 km pipeline from Nairobi to Eldoret, while the process has been set in motion to identify a contractor to extend the line to Kampala, in Uganda, and onwards to Kigali, the Rwanda capital.
The Eldoret–Kampala line has a price tag of $300-million and will cover a distance of 352 km. The Kampala–Kigali line is expected to cost $300-million.
Kenya and South Sudan are also seek- ing funds for a $3-billion 2 000 km pipeline connecting South Sudan’s oilfields with the new Lamu port, which Kenya is constructing. Uganda also wants to be incorporated in the mega project.
Once the new pipeline projects have been completed, the interlinked countries will be able to enjoy seamless transportation of petroleum products.