Kenya, Uganda seek fuel pipeline designer

Politics and policy

 

Uganda and Kenya have discovered commercial quantities of oil and plan to start production in the next three years or so. TEA Graphic 

By GEORGE OMONDI

In Summary

• Tullow Oil and Africa Oil have estimated discoveries in the South Lokichar basin at 600 million barrels, a level experts say is enough to make a pipeline viable even without Uganda.

Uganda will export its crude oil through Kenya and the two governments Wednesday invited bids for a single consultant to oversee a feasibility study and initial design for the construction of a 1,300-kilometre oil pipeline to Lamu.

 

The pipeline will run from Hoima in Uganda through the Lokichar basin in northwest Kenya to Lamu.

Uganda and Kenya have discovered commercial quantities of oil and plan to start production in the next three years or so.

Uganda has already selected two bidders to build a refinery in Hoima, Uganda’s oil town in the western region — a pointer that it’s looking to export both crude and refined product via a pipeline through Kenya.

READ: EA leaders agree to build oil refinery in western Uganda

Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum said in addition to the pipeline, the consultant would be required to oversee the building of a fibre optic cable from Hoima to Lamu, and tank terminals in Hoima, Lokichar and Lamu.

“The pipeline is to be developed as a single project but split into two lots namely Hoima to the Uganda-Kenya border and from the border to Lamu,” said Energy PS Joseph Njoroge, adding that interested firms and consortia had until July 25 to submit proposals.

The ministry’s principal secretary, Joseph Njoroge, said this month the aim of having a single consultant for the whole project was to ensure consistency in the quality of the whole pipeline.

East Africa has become potentially lucrative for international oil firms after Kenya and Uganda’s commercial oil finds and discoveries of gas off the coast of Tanzania and Mozambique.

Tullow Oil and Africa Oil, which control blocks in Kenya, have estimated discoveries in the South Lokichar basin at 600 million barrels, a level experts say is enough to make a pipeline viable even without Uganda.

The two companies said on Tuesday they had found additional oil and gas reserves at their northwest Kenya blocks. A Joint crude pipeline is one of the flagship projects that the three states, together with South Sudan agreed to implement jointly in a pact signed last year.

READ: Tullow discovers oil near its first successful well

On Monday, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed energy officials to ensure Kenyan side of the pipeline is built in less than five years. He offered Turkana residents a stake in the pipeline in exchange for land.