Plans to transform the east African oil sector by building a pipeline from south Sudan to the Kenyan coast were boosted yesterday when a Japanese company expressed interest in joining the project.
Toyota Tsusho, the trading arm of the Japanese carmaker, said it was developing plans to build the $1.5bn pipeline, which would run for 1,400km from Juba, the capital of south Sudan, to the Kenyan island of Lamu, where an oil export terminal would be constructed.
The project would be the boldest yet by a Japanese company in Africa. China has also been studying the proposed pipeline and Toyota Tshusho said that co-operation with Beijing was possible.