Kenya's sole refinery is seeking to raise $1.2 billion to expand its facilities and increase its crude handling capacity to 4 million tonnes of crude per year by 2018 from 1.6 million now, the refinery's manager said on Monday. This would be the most significant overhaul of the 50 year-old refinery owned by the Kenyan government and India's Essar Energy, in a bid to meet growing local and regional demand, managing director, Brij Mohan Bansal, said.
Bansal said the refinery, the only one in the east African region, plans to raise a portion of the funds through debt, with the balance to be provided by the shareholders as equity. Bansal said in an interview at the refinery on the shores of the Indian Ocean - near the port of Mombasa the trade gateway to the region - that the current demand for refined products in Kenya alone already exceeds 4 million tonnes per year or 88,000 barrels per day. When the upgrade is complete, refinery products will be readily absorbed, curbing fuel shortages. The refinery now produces an equivalent of 35,000 barrels per day, he said.