The East African Institute of Welding (EAIW), with the support of SAIW, has launched a welder training programme for 70 welders to make local skills available for the construction of a crude oil pipeline to connect the Lokichar oilfields in the Turkana Province of Northern Kenya and the new Lamu seaport on the Kenya’s East Coast. African Fusion talk to SAIW’s Shelton Zichawo and EAIW’s Ruto Lyoba about the initiative.
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A 750-million barrel crude oil resource was discovered in the South Lokichar Basin near the town of Lokichar in Kenya’s Turkana province back in 2012, with subsequent exploration indicating 1-billion barrels may be present. So far the country has transported about 80 000 barrels at 600 barrels per day by road to Mombasa.
A local refinery is not seen as viable to process the Turkana oil. Instead, Kenya plans to build its own 891 km pipeline from Lokichar to the port of Lamu. The crude will then be exported to refineries in other parts of the world.
The 80 000 to 120 000 barrels per day pipeline is mooted for completion by 2022 at a total cost of cost KSh100-billion (about US$1-billion).
“Our partnership with the East African Institute of Welding (EAIW) in Kenya began when we were approached to train two of their staff members late last year,” says SAIW’s training manager, Shelton Zichawo. “So two of their trainers came down to the SAIW Training School in Johannesburg for practical welding training, with the intention of passing on these skills to welders in Kenya.”
This was the beginning of a blossoming partnership that has led to the establishment of a brand new welding school in Kenya for the delivery of IIW-accredited welder training.
“From discussions with the EAIW chairman, Ruto Lyoba, we realised that this was the start of a welder training programme on a much larger scale,” Zichawo continues. “Following the training here, we helped the EAIW with the design of their new welder training school. Soon after, Willie Williams from our practical welding school went to Kenya to deliver the theoretical module of the IIW International Welder training course, for which we at SAIW are the Authorised Training Body (ATB) for Southern Africa,” he continues.
Williams spent four weeks in Kenya earlier this year delivering the two-week theoretical module to two groups of Kenyan welders. The two trained Kenyans, Monica Mwalo and Nicholas Kiplimo, then went on to deliver the practical training component of the course to these young welders.
“Willie Williams has now just returned from Kenya where he spent a further three weeks doing the practical code testing of the welders to enable them to be certificated as International Welders by the IIW and according to ISO 9606-1 International standard, which specifies the requirements for qualification testing of welders for fusion welding of steels,” Zichawo tells African Fusion.
“The EAIW intends to become an ATB in its own right for the East African region, whereby its employs its own qualified staff to train and accredit International Welders without SAIW involvement, and we in South Africa are more than happy to help them achieve that goal,” he adds.
The EAIW: local skills for local infrastructure
EAIW chairman, Lyoba, says that Kenya has recently discovered oil in the Turkana basin near the Great Rift Valley in northwest Kenya. “A pipeline is going to be built to transport crude oil from the Lokichar Basin in the Turkana oil fields in the northwest to the seaport of Lamu on Kenya’s east coast, which is also currently being constructed,” Lyoba explains.
“We do not want to be importing welders to construct this pipeline or for the other associated infrastructure developments in our country, which is why we sent two of our employees to the SAIW in Johannesburg for advanced welder training. On their return we set up a state-of-the-art welder training centre and now we have 70 students, five of which are sponsored by the EAIW as part of our way giving back to our local community,” he says.
The Kenyan economy is becoming more and more sophisticated. With the discovery of oil and gas in Turkana and the emergence of renewable energy technologies in the form of wind and thermal energy. General manufacturing is growing, with modern bottling plants being built and the country’s bulk road transport (BRT) programme becoming a reality.
This has led to the increasing need for specialist coded welders and the EAIW was established in 2017 on the outskirts of Nairobi as a technical institute dedicated to developing excellence in welding. “EAIW is in the process of becoming an ATB of the IIW, which is an international body seeking harmonisation in the training, qualification and testing of welders around the world. We are now set up to offer MMA, MIG/MAG and TIG welding skills to local Kenyans so they can help us to improve our infrastructure and grow our economy,” he tells African Fusion.
“We are passionate about the youth in our country.,” Lyoba continues. “Unfortunately, many of them are unemployed and lack skill – and the skills gap is huge. There is a particular shortage of coded and specialised welding skills and this Institute is offering an opportunity for Kenya to develop its own skills base and to even start to export training skills to other countries in our region,” he adds.
“As a vocational training institute, we at EAIW are dedicated to delivering competency-based education and training (CBET) to international standards. Training facilities include a practical training school with state-of-the-art welding bays and modern and fully equipped classrooms.
“Graduating welders currently receive an IIW International Welder Diploma and Code certification to ASME IX and ISO 9609, all of which is are firsts for Kenya,” Lyoba says.
Currently focusing on specialist welder training in MMA MIG/MAG and TIG with a focus on steel and pipeline welding, future plans include underwater and robotic welding courses. “We are also actively encouraging women to take up welding as part of the broader initiative to see more women in careers that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competences,” he adds.
“We are excited to be part of a programme to uplift the skills in our people, our country and to contribute to our economic growth and prosperity,” Lyoba concludes.
