Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar is expected to explain to the county assembly the delay in reviving Kenya Petroleum Refinery Ltd in Changamwe.
Acting speaker Sarah Nyamvula ordered the Committee on Trade and Energy to report to the house in two weeks on why the facility is idle.
The sponsor of the statement, Fadhili Mwalimu, said the senator ought to have forced the government to agree to the upgrade of the facility. He said Omar should be summoned.
The oil facility started storing fuel for marketers at a fee last year. This was after it failed to process Murban crude oil since September 4, 2013, after exhausting the last stock of raw material.
The government was supposed to decide whether it will agree on the Sh151 billion modernisation project for the plant in Mombasa.
An Indian firm, Essar Company, abandoned the upgrade on the advice of consultants, who said it was not economically viable.
It opted out after citing major frustrations and a lack of state support to keep the refinery operational.
Larger, modern refineries in India and the Middle East enjoys government protection against foreign competition — unlike the situation in Kenya.
During Thursday sittings, Mwalimu said it is Omar’s responsibility to lobby the state to speed up the upgrade.
The ward representative said jobs have been lost and if a quick decision is not made, the county’s economy will be hurt.
“We want him to explain plans to have the government revive the facility. Our people are suffering,” he said.
Nyamvula said the senator, who has been critical of the assembly and the county government, has been inactive.
“The situation would have been easy if the senator was more involved, but he is not,” he said.
Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd started hospitality services early this year to use the storage capacity of 192,000 cubic metres for refined liquid products and 1,200 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas.
Failure by the government and Essar to agree on the project has forced East Africa to wholly depend on imported refined products.
The future of about 200 employees of the Kenya Petroleum Refineries hangs in the balance as the government converts the facility into an oil storage unit.
Senior officials at the Energy ministry met KPRL and Kenya Pipeline Company boards to discuss the new business model. No direction was given on how the workers will be absorbed or whether some will be fired.
Since June, an inter-ministerial committee has been researching the best model the government can use to revive the refinery. The taskforce is comprised 11 members from the treasury, Energy ministry, KPC, KPRL and the Energy Regulatory Commission.