Reuters Nairobi
KENYA, Uganda and Rwanda have invited bids to build a 784km pipeline in two phases that will transport refined petroleum products from western Kenya to regional markets.
The project, part of east African regional integration plans, involves extending an existing products pipeline which now runs between the Kenyan port of Mombasa and the western town of Eldoret.
The extension will link that pipeline to capital cities Kampala and Kigali and help serve markets in Tanzania, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Commercial quantities of oil have been discovered in Uganda and Kenya, which plan to start production in about three years. Those discoveries are among a series of finds along Africa’s eastern coast and Rift Valley, which runs through Kenya and other countries.
As well as exporting crude, Uganda plans to refine some oil, making products that could flow through the pipeline extension. The tender, placed yesterday with a deadline of September 30, did not provide cost, but a products pipeline between Eldoret and Kampala has previously been budgeted at $300 million (R3.2 billion).
Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda also invited bids in June for a consultant to oversee a feasibility study and initial design for a 1 300km oil export pipeline to the Kenyan coast.