Oil pumps and rig at sunset . [Getty Images] Kenya’s oil project has experienced major delays, denying the country the chance of joining the league of oil producers as well as the benefits that would come with it.
And while Tullow Oil’s project in Lokichar, Turkana County is the best known, other projects identified as key in actualising the country’s oil dream have not fared any better.
The delays have been costly for many companies – especially fledgling local oil and gas firms – that had made huge investments to reap from the expected oil boom. READ MORE
Prolonged periods of inactivity at Lokichar and across other oil blocks have meant they cannot monetise their investments or even build capacity in the sector.
It also means that Kenya still retains the tag of an emerging oil producer as opposed to being a producer, which makes it unable to attract major investors in the sector.
A decade after Kenya discovered oil in Lokichar, a lot has changed, with the allure of fossil fuels fading as the green energy revolution takes hold.
Financiers are increasingly moving away from projects such as oil and coal and are now pumping billions of dollars into wind and solar energy as well as electric cars and associated parts such as batteries.
Perhaps in a bid to restore some hope in Kenya’s upstream sector, the government recently revoked licences of a number of oil companies that failed to meet their contractual obligations.
By kicking out the non-performers, the government may be trying to rekindle hope for the country’s oil dream that has in the recent past been slipping away.
Senior executives from Tullow Oil and its partners – Africa Oil and TotalEnergies – toured Kenya last month in a bid to restore hope in Project Oil Kenya.
Tullow said the executives had come to appraise key government stakeholders on its newly developed plan to develop the Lokichar project.Sources, however, said the power team was in the country to assure the government of their commitment to seeing the project through following the cancellation of the contracts of non-performing firms.But the visit did not generate any good news as far as the project’s timeline is concerned.Tullow said the project would only take off after the joint venture partners find a strategic partner, and once this is done, it would take another three years to build a processing plant in Lokichar and the pipeline to Lamu.Tullow Oil Chief […]
