25 August 2016, Nairobi – British oil firm Tullow on Wednesday raised Kenya’s hopes of becoming an oil exporting country after it officially announced plans to start producing oil from Turkana in March next year.
Tullow Oil chief operating officer Paul McDade told President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House Nairobi that it will initially produce 2,000 barrels of crude oil per day and have stocks ready for export in June 2017.
The announcement is in line with State House’s plan to have the oil transported by road from Turkana to Eldoret for onward delivery by train to the port of Mombasa — a distance of 1,089 kilometres.
“Following President Kenyatta’s directive that exportation of Kenya’s first oil be expedited, Tullow Oil has this afternoon confirmed that it will start oil production in March next year,” a statement from State House said.
Tullow’s count of the Turkana oil reserves so far stands at 750 million barrels — which is considered commercially viable at the current prices of $50 a barrel. One barrel is equivalent to 159 litres.
Kenya is hoping that exporting oil will earn the country the much-needed petrodollars it needs to stem the rising tide of public debt that now stands at more than $30 billion.
Mr McDade said Tullow will be drilling eight extra exploratory wells in North Lokichar, Turkana County where it hopes to make more discoveries and take the mean recoverable resources to more than a billion barrels.
At the current global crude prices of $50 a barrel, the export of 2,000 barrels a day would bring in $37 billion annually before factoring in the cost of production, transportation and profit margins of the mining firm.
Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau told the Business Daily in a recent interview that the venture will remain profitable as long as crude prices remain at more than $34 per barrel.
- The East African
