Business Daily (Nairobi)
Steve Mbogo
3 April 2008
The Kenya Pipeline Corporation expects to complete the upgrade of its system controls later this month, saving millions of shillings in long term repair costs.
The Sh94 million contract was awarded in April last year to a Belgian company, Socabelec. It involved the overhaul of control systems in Maungu, Mtito Andei and Sultan Hamud pump stations along Mombasa Road.
The new system is expected to help the company monitor leaks in its pipeline network, that provide opportunities for oil siphoning, and interlink the stations with fibre-optic cables.
Socabelec chief executive, Marco Veri, said the installation of the new pump control systems will be completed before the end of this month.
The pipeline corporation however did not say how much money it would save after the new system is fully functional. George Okungu, the company's managing director, said the company would need at least three months for comparative cost analysis with the old system.
The automated system is expected to serve the company for at least 10 years without needing repair. It is part of the wider repair works costing Sh316 million being undertaken by the pipeline company to replace the obsolete technology installed in the early 1980s.
Mr Okungu said the upgrade and repair works also included element of skills transfer as the company prepares itself as a major player in the construction of pipelines across the continent.
The pipeline corporation is eyeing to being a major player in the construction of the South Sudan-Mombasa pipeline whose design is still at formative stages.
The company will also be involved in the construction of the Uganda-Kigali pipeline. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding last week to support a feasibility study.
The two countries also signed a deal with Tamoil Africa holdings Ltd, the parent company of Tamoil East Africa which is building the Kenya-Uganda extension of the oil pipeline.
In the Uganda-Rwanda deal, Tamoil Africa will carry out a feasibility study for the project; build, operate and transfer.
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