CONSTRUCTION of the Kenya-Uganda oil pipeline extension is to start this month, the Kenyan energy minister said recently. Mr Daudi Migereko said contractor Tamoil East Africa was now acquiring land and compensating land-owners. The Libyan company won the tender to install the 8-inh diameter, 320-km long, pipeline from Eldoret to Kampala last year; with a capacity of about 1.2m cum/yr, the pipeline will transport refined oil products to Uganda and neighbouring countries. "Preliminary works on the oil pipeline from Eldoret-Jinja-Kampala are moving well," the minister said, going on to confirm that the Kenyan government was "fast-tracking the issue of storage facilities in Jinja and west of Kampala. There is a need for the oil companies to put up their own storage facilities that will last for a maximum of 10 days to avoid future fuel shortage. Expand your storage facilities," he advised the oil company executives who he was addressing. "Because of the developments within the region, it is time for oil companies to stock products according to regulations. We are also expanding the Jinja depot to double its capacity. The crisis in Kenya has forced us to focus on producing oil. We don't want the same situation to happen again," Mr Migereko said.