This archive report was first published on 5 January 2022.
On Thursday, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi are scheduled to inspect the progress of the new Kipevu Oil Terminal (KOT) in Mombasa.
Minister Wang Yi is expected to arrive in the country on Wednesday and pay a courtesy call on President Kenyatta at State House before proceeding to the new oil terminal.
Located at the Port of Mombasa, the new KOT is an off-shore facility constructed by China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) at a cost of Kshs. 40 billion.
The terminal has four berths with a total length of 770m and one work boat wharf at Westmont area for landing facilities.
It also features five sub-sea pipelines buried 26 meters under the seabed to allow for future dredging of the channel without interfering with the pipes.
Once complete, the new oil terminal facility will have four berths capable of handling six different hydrocarbon import and export products, including Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), crude oil, and heavy fuel oil.
The terminal will initially accommodate three ships concurrently with a capacity of 200,000 tons each, with a fourth berth provisionally constructed to handle a fourth ship in the future.
The new KOT is expected to replace the old Kipevu Oil Terminal, which was built in 1963 and has a single jetty with a capacity to accommodate only one vessel at any given time.
According to the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Ag. Managing Director Amb. John Mwangemi, the new terminal will bring various benefits to the region, including reduced vessel turn-around time, guaranteed security of supply, and significant reduction in demurrage costs.
