Project Profile
Location: Eldoret in Kenya to Malaba to Jina then KampalaUganda
Value: US$302 million
Length: 352 km
Pipeline Size: 8 inch diameter, pumping flow rate of 168m3 per hour
Annual Capacity: 1,200,000m3
The Kenya-Uganda oil pipeline project is being jointly developed by the Kenyan and Ugandan governments. It will replace road tankers as the primary means for transporting oil products from Kenya to Uganda. The new pipeline will connect Eldoret in Kenya to Kampala in Uganda, passing through Malaba. It will deliver white petroleum products from Kenya to Uganda and vice-versa. The governments of Kenya and Uganda together hold a 49% (24.5% each) share in the pipeline project, Total will have a 51% stake. The new pipeline will be 352km long and will interconnect the existing 14-inch-diameter pipeline that runs from Nairobi to Eldoret. It also includes the addition of a spur line to Jinja in Uganda and construction of a common user depot at the pipeline terminal in Kampala.
The crude oil pipeline is being developed through a public-private partnership under a 20-year build, own, operate and transfer arrangement between Uganda and Kenya in 1995. The partnership will be handled and operated by a joint coordinating commission (JCC). The contract for conducting feasibility studies for the construction of the pipeline was awarded to an international firm in 1997. The study was completed in 1998 and the report submitted the next year. The study was funded by The European Investment Bank (EIB). It reported that the pipeline project would be feasible to build. Tamoil initially received a contract to build the pipeline in 2007, but the contract was later cancelled in 2012 as the company failed to implement the project.
The oil pipeline will extend to Kigali in Rwanda and Bujumbura in Burundian in the future. The feasibility study for the pipeline extension was awarded to East African Community (EAC) in September 2011. The study was funded with $600,000 by the African Development Bank (ADB). The pipeline extension was accepted in principle by the Kenyan, Ugandan and Rwandan governments.
Operators:
The governments of Kenya and Uganda: 49% (24.5% each) interest
Total E&P: 51% interest
Contractors:
Mott MacDonald: Project Management services