By Nelvin Biwott
The government has announced plans to expand the Kenya Pipeline Company’s Eldoret depot. The depot serves North Rift and Western Kenya as well as several neighbouring countries.
Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi says the Eldoret KPC depot is a strategic facility for the petroleum sector in the country
It serves the local and international markets, including providing petroleum products to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Rwanda.
Wandayi spoke during a familiarization visit to the depot where the Managing Director Eng. Jeremiah Mwangangi requested for its expansion.
He noted that the depot needed an additional tank to optimize the mainline utilization and, additional tanks for super petrol and diesel from the Nakuru and Kisumu depots. This upgrade, Eng Mwangangi said, will ensure seamless supply and flow of oil.
What’s the storage capacity of KPC Eldoret depot?
KPC’s Eldoret depot’s current storage capacity is 45,000 million litres for four products which include 2 tanks of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), with a total capacity of 20 million litres, 4 tanks of Motor Spirit Premium (MSP) also with capacity of 12 million litres, 2 tanks of Illuminating Kerosene (paraffin) (IK) amounting to 3.8 million litres and 4 tanks of JET-A1 with total capacity of 5.2 million litres.
“We are going to add the storage capacity here in Eldoret for MSP and JET_A1,” responded CS Wandanyi.
The KPC Eldoret depot boss also called for rehabilitation of the depot access roads to ease the flow of trucks to and from the depot as well as a replacement of aged loading equipment and the integration of the truck clearance systems for different countries.
However, stakeholders in the sector hailed the company for its smooth services.
“We have witnessed improved operations and we thank the KPC Eldoret depot,” said OREX_ Petrol Station Regional Manager Gerald Odanga.
Turbo Member of Parliament Janet Sitienei was among other government leaders present during the CS’s familiarization visit.
Others were National Government Administrative Officers (NGAOs), and members of the Oil Marketing Companies (OMC).
