Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline

The 450 kilometre long Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline was built in 1978. 14 inches in diameter, the pipeline was built by the state-owned Kenya Pipeline Company Limited (KPC) and took two years to build. Initially the pipeline had four pump stations, enabling a rate of flow of 440 cubic metres per hour. With the rise in oil and demand and the expansion of the Kenyan economy, pipeline traffic quadrupled from 879 776 cubic metres in 1978 to 3 853 439 cubic metres in 2007. With the pipeline struggling to meet this capacity, the KPC responded by installing additional pump stations, boosting the rate of flow to 880 cubic metres per hour in 2008. Nairobi consumes more than 50% of the oil products pumped from Mombasa. However, the pipeline is in poor condition, and in 2012 the KPC announced it would embark on a $300 million project to replace it.

The Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline connects to the Western Kenya Pipeline Extension (WKPE), serving the towns of Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu. In 2009, a total of 75 000 bbl/d was pumped from Mombasa to Nairobi and the WKPE. Now there are plans to extend the WKPE to Uganda.

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