(Ecofin Agency) - State-owned Kenya Pipeline Company has announced that it has chosen PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as its lead adviser on the planned acquisition of Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd.

The Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd (KPRL) is the only crude-processing company in the East Africa country and has been put on hold since 2013. The government gained full ownership of the facility in April when the Treasury paid India-based Essar Oil Ltd. $4.9 million for its 50% interest in the refinery.

According to the Chairman of Kenya Pipeline Company, John Ngumi (photo), a group of companies led by PwC will carry out a full-scale research and analysis on KPRL and its outcome will be announced before January.

“We want to have a holistic view of the refinery company. We can then decide what do with KPRL, if it’s going to be bought by KPC or a synergy between the two companies,” Ngumi said.

Kenya is at present making plans to start producing no less than 2,000 barrels of oil a day in mid-2017 from fields being developed by Tullow Oil Plc in the northern Turkana region.The government plans to transport the crude by road and rail and may process it at the refinery, which is located at the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa, Bloomberg reports.

Kenya has estimated reserves of 750 million barrels. The East Africa’s largest economy plans to commence the building of an 865-km pipeline that will connect its oil fields to a port being constructed at Lamu, near the border with Somalia, by 2021.

Anita Fatunji