The 60 million U.S. dollars investment in Kipevu has a capacity of 110,000 cubic meters, making it one of the largest liquid petroleum storage facilities in East Africa. The new terminal will ease the region’s overstretched oil storage and transportation network.

“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,” VTTI Kenya General Manager Merlin Figueira said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

Kenyan oil firms have previously cited the high cost of refined petroleum products to loses incurred as a result of refining at the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL) facility in Kipevu.

The first-ever direct purchase of crude oil was facilitated by the Kenyan Energy Ministry in July 2012, initially criticized for failing to regulate the oil industry to keep prices lower.

Analysts say this will enable the refinery to play very key role in reducing the price of fuel in the East African country to the benefit of consumers affected by the high cost of living.

Fuel prices have dropped sharply in the global markets, leading to similar drops announced by the state-regulator, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Figueira said investment in the terminal is part of the company’ s African expansion plans, in addition to their Nigerian 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.

VTTI Kenya on Sunday 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 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) main line 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 neighbors such as Uganda, Rwanda, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

VTTI is an international energy storing and terminal group formed in 2006, and headquartered in Rotterdam, owned by the Vitol Group and MISC of Malaysia.

Globally VTTI offers 8.6 million cubic meters of combined storage capacity across 5 continents, set to increase to over 14 million cubic meters through its proactive program of expansion and construction.