The siphoning of petroleum at Mlolongo where millions of litres of petroleum products are suspected to have been lost was an insider job, engineers familiar with pipeline operations told the Star on Monday.
“The welding was professionally done. We suspect it was done during construction,” Kenya pipeline security manager Major (Rtd) Harry Kithinji said.
The revelation was made as questions about the workmanship of the new Mombasa–Nairobi pipeline remain unanswered.
They include the whys and hows of the March 30 oil spillage occurred at the Kiboko natural springs in Makueni.
It has emerged that welders could have initiated 'hot taps' — which could be accessed and opened later — during the construction before the pipeline was buried.
Hot taps or hot tapping is the technique whereby a technician can safely tie into a pressurised system, by drilling or cutting.
A typical connection involves tapping fittings, reinforced branch or split tee (often used as branch from the main pipeline), isolation valve-like gates and a tapping machine, which includes the cutter, and housing.
“For you to have done what they did [arrange for siphoning], you must have good information on the operations,” an engineer who sought anonymity told the Star.
It has emerged that the contractor of the 450-km, 14-inch-wide pipeline ― Zakhem International Construction Limited hired welders from Nigeria and India as part of its labour force for in the Sh48 billion project.
Work on Line 5, as it is commonly known, started in July 2014 with the facility becoming operational in July 2018.
For you to have done what they did [arrange for siphoning], you must have good information on the operations.
Senior KPC managers said Zakhem insisted on bringing in welders to supplement the locally based team. It argued that KPC and the country at large lacked enough skilled personnel for the job.
The Star has since confirmed KPC has 13 qualified pipeline welders.
Poor supervision during the construction period is feared to have given welders an opportunity to create hot taps along the line.
“The supervision was not well done. When the technical team wanted to be out there to supervise, someone in the office thought all they wanted was per diem so the contractor and people on site had all the time to do their thing,” an insider told the Star.
There are concerns that more than one hot tap could have been placed on the pipeline, even as the KPC management agrees that it requires experienced persons to tap into a main pipeline.
Line 5 has a flow rate of 950 cubic metres per hour, with an average pressure rate of 95 bars to 100 bars. The average pressure in a saloon car tyre is 2.1 bars, meaning the pressure in the pipeline is close to 50 times that in a tyre.
The welding was professionally done. We suspect it was done during construction.
“You cannot puncture a running pipeline, that would be a disaster. A layman cannot tap the pipeline,” Kithinji told to the Star during a pipeline supervision exercise in Nairobi on Monday.
“We are cooperating with the DCI to get to the bottom of this issue.”
Adding to the insider conspiracy theory is the fact that the suspects tapped only super petrol, despite KPC using Line 5 to push both petrol and diesel, which are separated by interfaces.
This casts the net even wider to control rooms that are suspected to have colluded with the men on the ground, to help them determine which product was passing their hot tap at that particular time.
The contractor also failed to put leak detectors into operation during the commissioning of the pipeline, raising more questions.
In June, police arrested two men believed to be part of the siphoning. One man disappeared through the tunnel at the siphoning point after tricking police that he was going to stop a leak.
Yesterday, KPC chairman John Ngumi said the board is awaiting the conclusion of investigations by the DCI but remains concerned on how the tapping was done.
At Mlolongo, the criminals had dug a 20-metre-long tunnel to access the main pressurised pipeline, which they punctured and where they inserted a valve to regulate the flow of fuel.
They had created a compound at the spot with construction material on site, diverting public attention.
(Edited by V. Graham)
