Kenya Pipeline Company’s 50-year journey; the success so far and plans for the future

Initially, KPC operated between Nairobi and Mombasa, the two main cities in the country, but it has since morphed into a regional giant, distributing petroleum products across the region. 

In an interview on Citizen TV’s Power Talk, KPC Managing Director Joe Sang detailed how the company has grown in leaps and bounds since its inception in 1973, and what plans are for the future.

Fully owned by the government of Kenya, KPC started with two employees when it was established but now has more than 1,500 employees as it serves not only Kenya but also the East African region. 

“Our core mandate is to transport, store and deliver petroleum products across the region. We run 1342 kilometres of pipelines from Mombasa following the railway, all the way through Makindu, Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu,” Sang said. 

Through these pipelines, KPC transports close to 8 billion litres of petroleum products, 60% of which is consumed locally and the other 40% in the transit markets of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Eastern DRC. 

Sang said since inception, 99% of KPC’s revenue comes from oil marketers which are around 120. Among the top marketers in their list are Total, Vivo Energy and Rubis, who control about 80% of the products transported across the region. 

KPC has now diversified, with the fibre optic running along its pipeline, with key customers now coming on board. They include Jamii Telcom, Safaricom, MTN in Uganda and Wananchi Telecom. 

“We also have a school called the Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas where we build capacity in matters of oil and gas… we also train Kenyans in matters of fire and safety, we’ve partnered with counties, we have MoUs with close to six counties,” Sang said. 

As KPC seeks to become Africa’s premier oil and gas company, Sang adds that they have laid down several plans to actualise this. Among these include moving into LPG which they call transition energy and LNG. KPC further looks to export talent in terms of oil and gas experts. 

In terms of innovation, KPC is now running three pumps, instead of one, in every pumping station, a move that has seen the company increase its pumping capacity.

“We were flowing at about 900k litres per hour, but now we can flow up to 1.3 million litres. We’ve also enhanced our capacity to flow products into Western Kenya. We’ve increased by 30%, and that has enabled the region to get enough fuel supply,” he said further.

The company is further looking forward to going green, and is in the process of embracing solar power in most of its pump stations. 

Away from powering the country, KPC runs a foundation, Inuka Foundation, through which they educate two students from each county annually. The program started in 2017 and so far 694 students have benefited. They most targeted persons with disabilities, by working with the National Council of Disabilities. 

KPC also brides itself in its Kenya Pipeline ladies volleyball team which has continued to shine continentally. Sang says the team was ranked second in Africa. 

The long term plan is to position KPC as the main gateway beyond the East African region.