Over 40 firms eye oil pipeline design tender
What you need to know:
- Energy Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge said more firms had requested time to prepare their bids.
- The proposed pipeline is among key infrastructure projects under the Lapsset programme.
A total of 42 firms have expressed interest in a public tender to draw designs for the planned crude oil pipeline to connect Turkana oil fields with those in Hoima, Uganda, to the Lamu Port.
This follows discovery of commercial quantities of oil in the region, spurring private sector interest.
The Hoima-Lokichar-Lamu crude oil pipeline, a joint project between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, and later South Sudan, is expected to be completed in 2018.
In May, the three governments signed an agreement to seek a lead consultant for the feasibility study and preliminary engineering designs of the crude oil pipeline.
The number of firms is expected to go up. Energy Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge said more firms had requested time — until July 25 — to prepare their bids.
He spoke at the weekend as Uganda was expected to submit comments on the initial request for proposal (RFP).
“The Uganda team is here to issue an addendum to the memorandum of understanding (MoU). We will issue an addendum to the RFP by today (Friday),” said Mr Njoroge.
LAPSSET PROGRAMME
The proposed pipeline is among key infrastructure projects under the Lapsset programme.
It is meant to transport crude oil from Lokichar to a proposed refinery in Lamu once production starts, and onwards to the market.
Each of the countries will determine its financing arrangement by January next year, paving the way for the project’s construction that is being speeded up to support movement of the resource.
There has been heightened activity in the oil sector and new opportunities for locals to benefit since the contractor is required to partner with Kenyan firms, according to a recent Treasury circular.
“We are expediting it as an emergency project. We want to realise oil revenues as fast as possible,” said Mr Njoroge in an interview.
Last week, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda started the search for a consultant to supervise the crude oil conduit, days after more discoveries of oil and natural gas were made in Lokichar, Lamu and Wajir counties.
In the plan, a 1,300-km crude oil pipeline and fibre-optic cable will be laid from Hoima, while tank terminals and pumping stations will be built in Lamu and Lokichar.
It will be developed in two parts — from Hoima to the Uganda-Kenya border, and then on to Lamu.
