|
02 Feb 2016 – The final six bidders of the USD 50m advisory contract for the Kenya Petroleum Technical Assistance Project (KEPTAP) have been selected, according to two sources. The potential bidders have received a request for proposal (RFP), and the Kenyan government is expected to select the winning bidder in about a month, the first source added. The six finalists are: 1. pwc (Kenya) 2. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (US) 3. Deloitte (Kenya) 4. Greenberg (US) 5. Driver Global (SA) 6. Fichtner (Germany) KEPTAP is a project aimed at developing the country’s midstream oil and gas infrastructure. It will include a heated pipeline that can transport crude from Hoima in Uganda through Lokichar in the Kenyan Rift Valley to Lamu on the Kenyan coast. The capex requirement for the planned infrastructure is estimated to be USD 4bn. The World Bank has allocated USD 50m in funding to subsidise the hiring of an advisory consortium in an effort to expedite KEPTAP. The objective of the KEPTAP is to strengthen the capacity of the Kenyan government to manage its petroleum sector and wealth for sustainable development impact, introduce petroleum sector reforms and capacity building, according to the World Bank webiste. In October, Mergermarket reported that some 33 companies and consortiums had submitted bids for the project. Kenya and Uganda have both embarked on ambitious plans to bring recently discovered crude oil reserves into production. Both projects rely on KEPTAP being completed in order to have the necessary infrastructure to export the oil. KEPTAP did not respond to a request for comment. In Uganda, the Albert Basin is an exploration project under development by Total [NYSE:TOT], Tullow Oil [LNO:TLW] and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Tullow has previously said it expects to decide on whether to proceed with investment in early 2016. Tullow Oil and Africa Oil jointly discovered 600m barrels of oil in the South Lokichar Basin in northwestern Kenya in 2012. by Katie McQue |
Katie McQue 