A Chinese engineering consultancy firm, Shengli, has won a tender to consult for the construction of an oil pipeline to western Kenya, which is expected to commence in September, official said on Friday.

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) Managing Director George Okungu said Shengli Engineering and Consulting Company of China beat 11 other firms who had expressed interest in the bid to offer consultancy services.

"The parameters of our operations are very well known and they are also expected to prepare the tender documents which we will use to advertise for the contractor to build the pipeline," he told journalists in Nairobi.

The building of the parallel line has been necessitated by the limited capacity of the Western Kenya Pipeline Extension (Line -II) which cannot cater for the current demand for petroleum products locally and for the export market.

Okungu said KPC is therefore carrying out pipeline capacity enhancement program to mitigate fuel shortages within the country and the region.

The completion of the proposed project is expected to result in the increased throughput and subsequent revenue to the exchequer, KPC and oil marketers, increasing economic growth.

And as transport of the fuel will be via underground pipes, vehicular traffic and damage to road infrastructure will be reduced.

Currently, KPC is also undertaking capacity enhancement and system improvement projects among them the construction of four pump stations along the Mombasa-Nairobi oil pipeline.

The rise in demand has put a strain on the installed capacity of the pipeline system, which is currently being operated at its maximum level.

According to a study on the demand for petroleum products in Western Kenya and neighboring countries, the projected annual demand in year 2020 is estimated to be 3.4 million cubic meters. This is equivalent to a flow rate of 388 cubic meters per hour.

The report was carried out by the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) whose officials went to Rwanda, Burundi, and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Southern Sudan and compiled findings on petroleum product consumption in those areas.

Source: Xinhua