KenolKobil wins Kenya tender for 1.2 mln bbls crude

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan oil marketer KenolKobil has won a tender to supply 1.2 million barrels of Abu Dhabi's Murban crude oil to Kenya and neighbouring countries for January arrival but pirates could disrupt deliveries, it said.

Somali sea gangs that have stepped up attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean risked disrupting supply of petroleum products to the east African region, KenolKobil said on Wednesday.

"KenolKobil would like to highlight concerns over increased risks of delivering products to the east African coastline due to increased incidences of piracy in the Indian Ocean," it said in a statement.

Last month a trader in Singapore said Kenya had bought via the previous tender a 600,000-barrel cargo of Murban for December, and the tender had been awarded to an oil major. In September, Kenya bought two 600,000-barrel Murban cargoes for November arrival from trading firm Gulf Energy.

KenolKobil did not reveal price details from the latest tender.

It said shipping companies were reluctant to sail in piracy-prone waters and those that did were charging high deviation costs and risk insurance premiums.

"Nevertheless, KenolKobil will strive to continue being an active participant in ensuring the regional economies remain supplied with petroleum products," the firm said.

Kenya runs an open tender system where the firm that offers the best price supplies crude and refined oil products.

KenolKobil will also supply 40,000 tonnes of diesel under the system, which is run by Kenya's ministry of energy.

On delivery, the crude is refined in the port city of Mombasa and sold to other marketers for regional distribution.

The Mombasa refinery serves east Africa's biggest economy and neighbouring landlocked nations Uganda and Rwanda.