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| Crude oil tanker offloading 50,000 tonnes of crude oil at Shimanzi oil terminal at Mombasa. |
The race to lock in the landlocked markets has seen the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) seek investors to develop a new terminal with a bigger capacity at Kigamboni to replace the old Kurasini oil jetty in Dar es Salaam, which is a continuation of the first phase of a project that entailed replacement of the single point mooring buoy (SPM) system at Kurasini.
Leighton Offshore Pte Ltd of Singapore completed building $66.48 million SPM at Kuraisini Oil Jetty (KOJ) to receive tankers of up to 150,000 metric tonnes in November 2012. The facility previously handled tankers ferrying a maximum of 40,000 tonnes of fuel, leading to congestion.
READ: Singapore firm to construct new discharge terminal in Dar es Salaam
Tanzania Italian Petroleum Reserves Ltd (Tiper) expects to double its storage from 141,000 to 213,200 cubic metres in Dar es Salaam after completing the refurbishment of two tanks at a cost of $11 million.
“The new pipe connection will also increase efficiency in receiving diesel from the SPM with the current flow rate of 1,500 cubic metres per hour rising to 2,000 cubic metres,’’ said Tiper managing director Daniel Belair.
The firm plans to build new 100,000 cubic metres tanks to increase storage to 313,200 cubic metres. Tiper will also invest between $12 million and $16 million in new pipelines to deliver more fuel from Kigamboni to clients at Kurasini.
Kenya has in the meantime engaged the services of Danish engineering firm Niras to design a new facility for the Kenya Ports Authority in Mombasa to replace the existing Kipevu Oil Terminal.
The terminal has one berth handling tankers ferrying up to 80,000 metric tonnes of refined fuel. This is way below the regional demand, estimated at 450 million litres monthly. The new offshore facility will have four berths to accommodate four tankers, each of 150,000 tonnes maximum capacity.
READ: Kenya to move oil terminal, double capacity in Nairobi
The region depends on fuel imported from the Middle East and India since the Mombasa-based Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd shut down on September 4, 2013 after exhausting its last stocks of Murban crude oil.
“Mombasa is the gateway for imports and exports not only to Kenya, but landlocked countries,” said KPA’s head of projects development Daniel Amadi.
Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) has started a Ksh4.8 billion ($53 million) expansion of Nairobi terminal by building four tanks to hold 133.52 million litres of fuel, equal to 22 per cent of the firm’s 612.32 million litre capacity.
READ: New Mombasa terminal ‘ahead of schedule’
Prashanth Projects Ltd of India and Kenya’s Nyoro Construction are jointly building tanks to receive more fuel from the new Mombasa- Nairobi pipeline expected to be operational next year.
The Nairobi terminal is currently the second depot of the State-owned KPC, with aits capacity of 100,528 cubic metres, after the Kipevu oil storage facility in Mombasa which holds 326,333 cubic metres of petroleum products.
Zakhem International Construction Co Ltd is constructing a new 450-kilometres long 20-inch refined products pipeline from Mombasa to Nairobi to replace the 36-year old 14-inch refined fuel pipeline.
“The key objective of this project is to replace the existing line 1 with a suitable pipeline size to meet projected demand of petroleum products in Kenya and East Africa up to 2044,” said KPC managing director Charles Tanui.
Line 1 was inspected by NDT Middle East in financial year 2009 -2010. The inspection firm recommended replacement of the pipeline as it was no longer economical to repair it because of extensive corrosion.
Kenya and Uganda are expected to complete building a $300 million fuel pipeline in 2017. The new 350-kilometre 12-inch facility to Kampala will be connected to the existing pipeline in Eldoret town in western Kenya.
The East African
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