Fredrick Obura
Kenya has joined the league of oil-exporting countries, President Uhuru Kenyatta says.
The president said Thursday from State House that Kenya concluded the
first deal on Thursday with 200,000 barrels at a price of Sh1.2 billion
($12m).
“We are now an oil exporter. Our first deal was
concluded this afternoon
with 200,000 barrels at a price of 12 million US dollars. So, I think
we have started the journey and it is up to us to ensure that those
resources are put to the best use to make our country both prosperous
and to ensure we eliminate poverty,” President Uhuru said.
Kenya, which currently exports no crude, discovered commercial oil
reserves in its Lokichar basin in 2012 and Tullow Oil estimates the
basin to contain an estimated 560 million barrels in so-called 2C proven
and probable oil reserves.
SEE ALSO :Activists urge banks not to finance Ugandan oil pipeline
Tullow has said this would translate to 60,000 to 100,000 barrels per day of gross production.
The government and Tullow Oil had expected to start exporting crude
under the Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS) by June this year but that
appeared unlikely with the company only having trucked about half of the
amount that will be needed for the first shipment.
In May, the Ministry of Petroleum said about 88,000 barrels of oil had
so far been trucked to Mombasa and was targeting to accumulate 200,000
barrels that would form the first export cargo.
The oil that has been ferried to Mombasa was produced in 2015 during an extended well testing exercise.
By end of March, Tullow had shipped all the oil stored in Lokichar and
has been setting up an Early Production Facility, which will produce
2,000 barrels a day.
SEE ALSO :Tullow Oil's Kenyan, Ugandan projects timelines slip
This oil will also be moved by road to Mombasa for stockpiling before it is exported.
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