Kenya to construct oil terminal at the port of Mombasa!

Kenya in conjunction with the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) is set to construct an oil terminal at the port of Mombasa; this is after the two parties signed an agreement.

Acting Managing Director for KPA Daniel Manduku confirmed the reports and explained that the current terminal at Kipevu can only handle a vessel at a time, with each vessel’s capacity being 35,000 tonnes.
He also pointed out that currently, Kipevu handles 90 percent of oil imported to Kenya and petroleum products being transported to neighboring countries.

Capacity of the new terminal

According to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), the new terminal will see to an increase in discharge capacity over ten times, this means that the new facility will store up to 400,000 metric tonnes up from the current 35,000 tonnes.

The terminal will have the capacity to handle four vessels of up to 100,000 DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage) and will have a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) line that is expected to help stabilize gas supply in the country.

Initially, construction was to be finalised by 2019 but the cancellation of an initial 2016 tender to include a liquified petroleum gas line pushed the completion time to 2022.

Mombasa port currently has only two oil terminals that are ageing and too small to handle large quantities of imported oil and gas. The new US $400m Kipevu Oil Terminal will supplement the two facilities at Shimanzi and the old Kipevu terminal.