The transportation fuel shortages that have hit the region recently could soon be a thing of the past after VTTI opened its new oil terminal VTTI Kenya in Kipevu - Mombasa.

The new terminal will ease the region’s overstretched oil storage and transportation network.

The Kshs 5 billion (US$ 60 million) investment has a capacity of 110,000 cubic meters, making it one of the largest liquid petroleum storage facilities in East Africa.

General Manager Merlin Figueira says investment in the terminal is part of the company’s African expansion plans, in addition to their LPG terminal.

Phase one of the project, which included 6 tanks, was completed in March 2012 while phase two of the new oil terminal, which included 4 more tanks, was completed at the end of 2012.

On January 23, VTTI Kenya successfully commissioned the new Terminal by discharging 9,600 cubic meters of Automotive Gas Oil from MT Uzava for its customer Vivo Energy Kenya Limited.

“The receipt of the first product from MT Uzava represents a significant milestone for our VTTI Kenya terminal, a major new landmark on the energy landscape of Kenya,” said Figueira.

The new state-of-the-art oil storage facility encompasses new technology with automated tank gauging, automated tank valves, fire suppression systems, high tech security system with 22 surveillance cameras, cone bottom in all the tanks to drain water, tank high level alarms, and impervious tank containment systems. The facility is operated from a centralized control room using the latest in Terminal automation.

VTTI Kenya in Mombasa is connected by pipeline to the Kenya Pipeline Company's (KPC) mainline from Mombasa to Nairobi. This allows product to be pumped from Mombasa to several KPC locations in Kenya such as Nairobi, Eldoret and Kisumu.

The added capacity now available in Mombasa will not only help to serve the increased demands in Kenya but the demands of our neighbours such as Uganda, Rwanda, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.