A Barrel Full

Summary Information

• Ownership: Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited
• Website: http://www.kprl.co.ke/
• Location: Mombasa, Kenya
• Capacity: 4.0 million tons/annum & 80,000 bbl/day
• Nelson Complexity:

Refining Units

• Atmospheric distillation
• hydrotreating
• catalytic reforming
• bitumen production units

Terminal Capacity

• Crude Oil:
• Refined Products:

Crude Supply

• The refinery processes Murban Crude Oil and Arab Medium Crude Oil

Products Produced

• Liquefied petroleum gas, unleaded premium gasoline, regular petrol, automotive gasoil, Industrial diesel, fuel oil and special products like bitumen and grease.

Ongoing Projects

• See Mombasa Refinery Upgrade Project
• KPRL plans to increase white product yields through the construction of a Thermal Gasoil Unit (TGU) that converts fuel oil into lighter products.
• The investment include facilities for reducing sulphur on gas oil and treating emissions to air and surface water.
• The investment is designed to enable the refinery to process heavy crude from Uganda

Other Information

• The refinery is running well under capacity, and needs investment to enable it to utilise its capacity fully.
• KPRL acts like a toll refinery where it processes crude oil on behalf of the oil marketers for a fee

History

• 1959: Colonial Government Agreement with ‘Consolidated’ (50% Shell, 50% BP)
• 1960: East African Oil Refineries Limited Incorporated
• 1963: Complex I completed and commissioned
• 1963: Esso and Caltex become Shareholders
• 1970: Grease Plant Constructed
• 1971: Government acquire 50% Shareholding
• 1974: Complex II completed and commissioned
• 1983: Change of name to - Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited.
• 1994: Deregulation leading to introduction of base load and processing fees changes
• 1996: New Control Center (DCS) commissioned
• 1997: Esso sold their shares
• 1998: KPRL Laboratory ISO 9002 Certified
• 2005 - Foster Wheeler awarded a contract to prepare the basis of design (BOD) for the proposed upgrade
• 2005 - Commencement of production of unleaded mogas
• 2007 - New Laboratory completed and commissioned
• 2009 - Essar Energy Overseas Ltd acquires 50% shareholding from Shell,BP and Chevron
• 2013 - Essar sells its stake to the Kenyan Government

Relevant Links

1. Essar wins contract to import crude for processing in Mombasa
2. Foster Wheeler Wins Contracts for Upgrade of Mombasa Refinery and Products Import Terminal in Kenya
3. Essar Energy shelves upgrade plan for Mombasa refinery
4. StanChart to Advise on Kenyan Refinery Upgrade, Daily Reports
5. Kenya Petroleum Refineries Selects Advanced IBM Technologies to Transform Operations
6. Essar acquires 50% stake in Kenyan refinery
7. Essar Energy to exit Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd