This archive report was first published on 3 January 2020.
On January 3, 2020, the Ministry of Mining and Petroleum announced the appointment of Dr Macharia Irungu as the new Managing Director of Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC).
Dr Irungu takes over from Hudson Andambi, who served as acting managing director since December 2018 following the arrest and prosecution of KPC's top brass.
Dr Irungu was previously the Managing Director at Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (Gapco) and has nearly three decades of experience in the oil and gas sector.
He has served as a commissioner of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) and was appointed by Mining and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary John Munyes on November 29, 2019, after emerging top in interviews that attracted 88 applicants.
Dr Irungu takes the helm after a tumultuous year for KPC, which saw leadership upheavals and the loss of public funds totalling more than Sh660 million in the procurement of 58 hydrant pit valves in 2014.
Mr Andambi will return to the Ministry of Mining and Petroleum, where he is the Senior Principal Superintending Geologist and Head of Upstream Petroleum Operations in the Directorate of Petroleum.
He was the alternate director representing the Ministry at the KPC board and took over as interim boss on December 7, 2019, following the arrest of former MD Joe Sang over alleged corruption involving the construction of the Sh1.8 billion Kisumu oil jetty.
