Jay456watt
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 23, 2016
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The four trucks that were flagged off on Sunday by President Uhuru Kenyatta were officially received at the Kenya Petroleum Oil Refinery in Mombasa on Thursday.
Each carried 150 barrels of crude oil from Lokichar in Turkana County, 1,000 kilometres away.
Read: Four tankers with Turkana crude oil reach Mombasa
The KPRL storage tanks, which are being revamped at a cost of Sh200 million, will get 2,000 barrels a day.
The crude oil will be stored at the KPRL until the critical volume of 200,000 barrels is reached before export begins.
The improvement included modification and insulation of receipt tank 117, which has a capacity of 90,000 barrels. It also covered two adjacent truck unloading bays and a steam boiler for line heating and re-heating the crude oil trucks if necessary.
MORE THAN SH100 BILLION EVERY YEAR
Tullow Oil Managing Director Martin Mbogo said the sector could be raking in $1.2 billion (about Sh120 billion) annually.
The company that discovered oil in Turkana already has 80,000 barrels of crude oil ready for transportation to Mombasa.
It first discovered oil in Kenya in 2012 and since then, 40 wells have been drilled and the crude oil output is expected to hit 80,000 barrels a day by 2022.
“We are introducing a new economic sector in Kenya,” Mbogo said.
Petroleum and Mining Chief Administrative Secretary John Mosonik described the journey towards exporting oil in the country as "impressive and painful".
He said once everything is put in place, including upgrading the storage facilities in full by February 2019 as expected, the oil and gas sector will be the country's third highest foreign exchange earner after tea and coffee, and tourism.
The crude oil will be sold to the world oil market as the country actively seeks a particular buyer.
“In future, we are looking at upgrading the KPRL facilities so that we can add value to our crude oil,” Mosonik added at the KPRL facilities.
The CAS said four trucks will trucks will transport the oil for now but that the number will increase to 100 a day with time, translating to more jobs for youths in the country.
The crude oil is part of the Early Oil Pilot Scheme launched by Uhuru. The scheme wil see the Lokichar-Lamu pipeline completed and this will be able to transport about 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
KPC EMPLOYEES TO KEEP JOBS
Pipeline company chair John Ngumi said it has spent close to Sh3 billion in the partnership programme with KPRL.
“We have spent Sh1 billion on the operations of the KPRL including salaries and the like, another Sh200 million on improving the facilities to receive the crude oil and another Sh1.8 billion on the improvement of other facilitiesint he area,” said Ngumi.
Acting KPRL CEO Charles Nguyai said the company has many assets that can be used by the government to develop the new sector.
“We are also willing to do whatever we can to help the government to achieve its objectives,” said Nguyai.
There was also good news for KPRL staff who have been living in fear of being rendered jobless.
Mosonik said they will retain their jobs.
The refinery was shut down in 2013 following what the government termed ineffectiveness and inefficiency. Operations resumed in 1963