In Kenya, the Oil Transport and Management Agency on Monday revealed that the 122 km Nakuru-Kisumu pipeline which will boost the supply of oil to western Kenya and the entire East African region has concluded.

The pipeline currently delivers 39 million litres of oil per day to the Kisumu depot, compared to the previous 12 million litres.

According to the Communications Manager at the Agency, Jason Nyantino, this new pipeline is capable of easing the constant shortage of the product in the region.

“The new line is a 10-inch pipeline running from Sinendet in Nakuru County to Kisumu. It is operating simultaneously with the existing parallel one to push huge volumes of product to the region,” he told Daily Nation.

The region, receives 60% of the country’s petroleum products delivered to not only the western region but also to East African countries such as Tanzania, Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Sudan.

This new pipe will now ease the overcrowding of trucks and save the roads from regular damages.

Nyantino noted that since the product will not be far from the market, there is a chance that the prices of fuel will reduce slightly.

“As much as it is not within our mandate to regulate oil prices, the new project may bring down cost of fuel in the region because one of the factors that Energy Regulatory Commission uses to determine pricing is cost of transport which will now be lower,” he said.

Anita Fatunji