THE Kenya Pipeline Co (KPC) is reported to have concluded its evaluation of tenders, opened in June, for the expansion of the Mombasa-Nairobi oil pipeline, although the winner of a å£multi-billion contract is yet to be announced. “The tender committee has completed the evaluation of bids and the winner is to be named shortly,” KPC’s deputy managing director, Waithaka Kioni, said on 16 August.
The upgrade is expected to double the pipeline’s pumping capacity from 440,000li/hr to 880,000li/hr by end of next year when the project is scheduled for completion. The project is part of the initiatives being undertaken by the firm to enhance its pumping capacity to match the rising demand for petroleum products: over the past few years, the demand for petroleum products has outstripped KPC’s installed capacity.
Mr Kioni also announced that KPC has commissioned the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis to undertake a study on petroleum demand trends in western Kenya with a view to determining the size of the pipeline to be installed from Nairobi to Eldoret.