An oil rig in Elgeyo-Marakwet County owned by Tullow Oil Company. The
court has given the firm the greenlight to go on prospecting for oil in
Turkana. PHOTO | FILE
By BRIAN WASUNA
Tullow Oil, Africa Oil and 0903658 BC Limited have
been granted a go-ahead to continue with their prospecting projects in
Turkana following a six-year legal battle with a local firm which was
claiming rights to six northern Kenya oil blocs.
The Court of Appeal, sitting in Kitale, has dismissed a suit
filed by Interstate Petroleum in which it sought to revoke prospecting
licences of the three multinationals, granting them the greenlight to
continue with their oil mining projects in the six blocs.
Justices Festus Azangalala, Gatembu Kairu and Agnes
Murgor have dismissed a suit Interstate filed seeking prospecting
licences for the oil blocs, arguing that the local firm’s demands had
already been addressed in a separate case.
Interstate in 2010 filed a suit staking a claim to
licences for the six oil blocs but lost when the High Court and Court of
Appeal ruled that it was not entitled to the permits despite having
discovered the massive oil deposits in Turkana.
The local firm then filed a fresh suit in 2012 to
revoke the licenses granted to Tullow Oil, Africa Oil and 0903658 BC
Limited. The three multinationals unsuccessfully challenged the second
suit, before asking the Court of Appeal to intervene.
The Court of Appeal judges held that the matters in
Interstate’s second suit had not only been addressed in the first suit,
but were an attempt to reopen a determined suit.
Interstate had appealed alongside businessmen Edward Kings Onyancha and Monena Kengara.
“In our judgment the subsequent judicial review
application was not only barred by the doctrine of res judicata, but was
also an abuse of the process of the court. The application for judicial
review by the Interstate, Mr Onyancha and Mr Kengara is hereby
dismissed in its entirety,” the Appellate Court judges ruled.
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