KPC Secures $725 Million Crude Storage Deal to Back Kenya’s Oil Export Plans

Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) has signed a long-term agreement worth an estimated US $725 million (roughly KSh93.68 billion) to store and handle crude oil for export, marking a major step in Kenya’s push to bring its domestic oil production to international markets.
The 25-year deal was struck through KPC’s subsidiary, Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL), with Gulf Energy E&P B.V. (GEBV) — the company that has taken over Tullow Oil’s upstream operations in Kenya. Under the agreement, KPRL will provide crude oil receipt, storage, handling, and export services at the Kipevu Oil Terminal II in Mombasa.
The projected $725 million in gross revenue over the life of the contract is an estimate, and the actual figure will depend on how much crude is ultimately produced and shipped, as well as on operating conditions over the coming decades.
The agreement reflects a change of direction for how Kenya plans to get its crude to market. Rather than building a dedicated export pipeline from the oil fields, crude produced at the South Lokichar fields in Turkana County will instead be trucked or moved by rail to the coast, where it will be stored and loaded for export at the existing Mombasa terminal infrastructure.
This approach allows Kenya to make use of facilities that are already in place rather than waiting on new pipeline construction, and it gives KPRL’s long-idle refinery complex — largely inactive since 2013 — a renewed commercial role as a storage and export hub rather than as a refinery.
Alongside the KPRL-Gulf Energy deal, Kenya Pipeline Company has also updated its service agreement with the Kenya Ports Authority covering operations and maintenance at the terminal.
Kenya expects first oil production under the new arrangement by late 2026. Output is initially expected to start at around 20,000 barrels per day, with plans to scale up to roughly 50,000 barrels per day in later phases as the South Lokichar fields are further developed.