06 April 2014, Nairobi — The National Oil Corporation of Kenya targets to grow its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) market share to 20 percent from the current five percent upon completion of an ultra-modern LPG filling facility and lubricants warehouse plant currently under construction.
The Nairobi-based plant which is halfway complete will cost of Sh432 million and will have a filling capacity of 30 metric tonnes per day in an eight-hour shift; translating to 5,000 six-kilogram cylinders a day.
National Oil’s General Manager in-charge of Finance and Administration Kamau Mugenda said the project which is slated to be completed in July this year will eliminate reliance on hospitality storage and filling in Nairobi.
“Our spirited retail network expansion and enhanced LPG handling capacity contributed greatly to the profit of Sh348 million in the 2012/13 financial year against a backdrop of sluggish industry performance. That is why exploiting the potential of products such as LPG and lubricants is pivotal to our growth strategy,” said Mugenda.
He pointed out that lack of a lubricants warehouse has been a major challenge.
“We are currently fully dependent on costly leased facilities; we will now be able to meet our mandate of stabilising supply, distribution and pricing of LPG in the country,” he added.
The linear automated and containerised plant is equipped with an electronic leak detector and has five filling heads and LPG storage capacity of 130 Metric Tonnes (MT).
The LPG tank farm will contain two 20-ton and two 65-ton bullets.
The plant will have a fire pump house, a weigh bridge and a modern office and control room. The lubricants warehouse will have an area of 435 metres squared with stack height of 1.54 metres.
The facility will provide employment to over 20 new people.
“For the rest of the country, we are setting up the mini-LPG filling facilities in Kipkarren to serve North Rift and another one in Kisumu to serve Western Kenya,” Mugenda said.
The current consumption of LPG in the country is estimated at 90,000 MT per year and is expected to reach 200,000 MT once the current supply constraints are addressed.
In 2011, the company rolled roll out a three kilogram (3kg) economy size LPG cylinder targeting the lower end of the cooking gas market. The company also plans to roll out a one kilogram economy size LPG cylinder in the 2014 calendar year.
– Capital FM
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