Tullow Oil strikes deal to resume work in Turkana

Turkana South MP James Lomenen addresses demonstrators who were demanding employment, contracts and supplies from Tullow Oil. Tullow Oil will double its social budget, train locals and open up its tenders to women and youth from areas in which they operate Photo/FILE 

By George Omondi

In Summary

• The company made the promise under a deal brokered by government officials to enable it resume operations in Turkana County Friday morning.
• The British firm committed in an MoU signed with Turkana leaders to immediately double its social investments to Sh340 million annually and offer more training scholarships to enable locals take up high cadre jobs.
• Tullow indefinitely suspended its operations in Southern and Central Turkana on October 26 after community leaders organised residents to protest alleged discrimination against locals in employment and award of tenders

British petroleum company Tullow Oil will double its social budget, train locals and open up its tenders to women and youth from areas in which they operate, it was announced Thursday.

The company made the promise under a deal brokered by government officials to enable it resume operations in Turkana County Friday morning.

The British firm committed in an MoU signed with Turkana leaders to immediately double its social investments to Sh340 million annually and offer more training scholarships to enable locals take up high cadre jobs.

In exchange, the government will beef up security to protect the firm in an area that is infested by small firearms.

“This is a working formula and a way forward to ensure that the community does not disrupt Tullow’s operations again in future,” said Energy and Petroleum secretary Davis Chirchir.

“The increased social budget should be added to what is available from the Equalisation Fund to boost the capacity of Turkana people to benefit from oil exploration.”

Tullow indefinitely suspended its operations in Southern and Central Turkana on October 26 after community leaders organised residents to protest alleged discrimination against locals in employment and award of tenders.

READ: Tullow Oil’s woes grow as MPs call for suspension

In the MoU signed with Turkana Members of Parliament Thursday, Tullow management pledged to regularly share information about tenders and employment opportunities with local communities.

A big chunk of the firm’s tenders will also be reserved for the locals, Tullow officials said. “We now have a better understanding of issues than before and I am reasonably sure that matters will henceforth be resolved peacefully,” Tullow’s deputy general manager Sid Black said.

The London Stock Exchange -listed multinational discovered oil in Turkana in its first attempt at exploratory drilling in Kenya last year, ending more than two decades of barren search.

The discovery was in line its own record of exploration success following similar finds in Ghana, Uganda and French Guiana. Tullow has since reported other finds, the fourth only a month ago at Ekales-1 wildcat estimated to have a net oil pay reserve of between 60 and 100 metres.

The success at the Ekales-1 wildcat raised five-fold the estimated oil deposit in the Lokichar basin to 368 million barrels of oil. The discoveries buoyed the multinational to significantly raise its pace of exploration in Kenya, setting itself an ambitious target of 12 wells over the next 12 months before the protests disrupted its operations.

ALSO READ: Kituyi warns Turkana oil dispute scaring away investors

To the community, however, the heightened exploration has raised expectations with counties demanding a role in the management of oil resources in spite of a constitutional provision that puts it in the hands of national government.