On May 10, 2022, the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) embarked on a significant upgrade of the facilities owned by Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) in Changamwe, with the aim of boosting its storage capacity.
The upgrade is expected to cut down perennial inefficiencies in the country's supply chain, which have resulted in high pump prices. By increasing storage capacity, KPC hopes to save oil marketing companies millions of shillings paid to shipping lines as demurrage charges.
According to KPC, about 254 million litres of the storage are reserved for refined products, while 233 million litres are for crude. The Changamwe-based KPRL has 45 tanks with a total storage capacity of 484 million litres. However, the refinery became idle in September 2013 when Kenya opted to start importing processed oil.
As Business Daily reported in 2017, KPRL was placed under the management of KPC as a storage facility for imported crude oil after Indian investor Essar failed to revive the country's only oil refinery.
