Kenol/Kobil's operations in Kenya have attained ISO 9001:2000 quality management system for refining, blending, storage, distribution and marketing of petroleum products, lubricants and special products processes.

The ISO 9001:2000 quality management system is very relevant to Kenol/Kobil's business. The company has expanded quite rapidly into the East and Central Africa region, after the successful establishment of subsidiaries in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Rwanda. The expansion plan has influenced very positive growth for the company.

Secondly, a couple of years ago, the company established a new business line in the company, the African Trading Desk, to supplement dwindling inland volumes. The fall in volumes was as a result of the poorly planned liberalization of the oil industry in the mid 1990s, that saw an influx of unscrupulous black market traders under the guise of independent marketers and dealers, and who have been a major cause of headaches for both the law-abiding players and the Ministry of Energy. The oil companies, and secondly the government, continue to lose significant amounts of money through export product diversion back into the country.

Hence, with the difficult operating environment and the need to stay in business, the establishment of the African Trading Desk, that does bulk trading with governments and other bulk suppliers, significantly pushed up our volumes to make up for the decline in inland volumes. The company's Trading Desk moves in excess of over 1,500,000M3 of petroleum products per year.

Thirdly, the company conducts a lot of export business into Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Fourthly, Kenol and Kobil are major suppliers of aviation gas to various international airlines, through re-fuelling facilities at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and the Moi International Airport in Mombasa.

The company has therefore fully recognised that by applying the ISO quality management system in its business operations, it will not only increase competitiveness in the market, but will also establish a precise criteria to be used consistently in all areas of the business. These include guidelines and procedures to be used when importing crude oil or when transacting in the local retail market, bulk trading, airplanes re-fuelling or in our oil export business.

The company is confident of gaining substantially through embracing ISO standards in all our business operations. This is because the standards laid out by ISO provide a foundation on which it can build improved quality management and assurance systems to achieve higher levels of international competitiveness in quality, pricing and delivery of products.