KPC considers listing at stock exchange

The Kenya Pipeline Company is considering going public buoyed by the progress it has recorded over the last five years.

Managing director George Okungu said the company was considering the possibility of listing at the Nairobi Stock Exchange through an initial public offering.

Speaking in Kisumu Town during an end year party, Mr Okungu told KPC staff to start saving in order to benefit from the IPO when it eventually comes.

Without giving a time frame for the listing, the MD said that the staff stand to benefit from 20 per cent of the shares that will be on offer when the sale materialises.

“KPC has continuously recorded improved performance and I am convinced that we will soon go public. I am appealing to all staff members to start saving in readiness for the offer. We want the staff to find it cheap. We will request the Government to reserve 20 per cent for them,” said Mr Okungu.

He said completion and commissioning of the Mombasa-Nairobi pipeline will double KPC’s petroleum product flow rate from the current 440,000 litres per hour to 880,000 litres.

Four new pump stations at Konza, Manyani, Makindu and Samburu have twin pumps which ensure that there is sufficient supply, he said.

“This is because one pump will always be on stand-by while the other is operational. We will, therefore, be able to pump 24-hours nonstop,” said Mr Okungu.

KPC has also completed Station Control System upgrades which he said have eased the monitoring of product flow and loading at the stations.

The company has awarded a Chinese firm a contract to construct a parallel pipeline to the Nairobi-Eldoret line.

The project, when complete, is expected to complement the existing line by increasing the petroleum products flow from the current 220,000 litres per hour to 310, 00 litres per hour.