State-run National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) is revamping plans for a new oil jetty in the port city of Mombasa so it can both cut the cost of imports and handle crude exports from east Africa. Initial plans unveiled in 2012 for the oil jetty, or single buoy mooring, and storage facilities were pushed back to change the scope and design after oil was found in Kenya. “We originally envisaged to work with a specific jetty design as a net importer of oil but that changed because of the discovery of oil deposits in Kenya in 2012,” NOCK spokesman Temesi Mukani said. Crude has also been found in next door Uganda, part of a string of hydrocarbons finds along Africa’s east coast and the Rift Valley that passes through Kenya and neighbouring states. In a tender published on Monday, NOCK invited firms to submit expressions of interest by Sept. 29 to act as adviser for the project, which the government plans as a Public Private Partnership (PPP). “The successful transaction adviser will now have to review the original feasibility study to cater for the oil discoveries which have made Kenya a potential oil exporter,” Mukani said, adding the original cost estimate of $500 million could change. The tender document said the project aimed to ensure the port was more efficient, cut delays and made Kenya’s coast a competitive choice for oil tankers. Another objective was to “provide the infrastructure that will support east African states to export their discoveries to global markets”. The main export route discussed up until now for Kenyan and Ugandan oil, both still a few years from major production, would be via a planned pipeline in north Kenya to a new port at Lamu. Kenya is under pressure to boost storage facilities and develop a strategic reserve to stabilise petroleum supplies. The country has no strategic reserves and relies on oil marketers’ 21-day reserves required under industry regulations. Fuel prices have a big impact on inflation in the east African nation, which relies heavily on diesel for transport, power generation and agriculture, while kerosene is used in many households for cooking and lighting. The government started monthly reviews of retail fuel prices after they shot higher in 2010, driving up the cost of living.