Kenya has exported its first batch of crude oil.

The 200 000-barrel shipment is making its way from the port of Mombasa to Asia, having been purchased for US$12 million by Chinese trading company ChemChina for export to Malaysia, EWN reports.

Though Kenya’s attempts at finding oil date back to 1937, the first commercially viable deposit was only discovered in 2012. Located in the South Lokichar Basin in Turkana, the deposit is estimated to hold 560 million barrels of oil.

According to President Uhuru Kenyatta, ‘this first oil pilot scheme has brought with it [not only] prosperity for the people of Turkana but also the wider republic, with very many local communities directly benefiting from employment opportunities in production and logistics’.

While this initial purchase is considered small-scale, commercial-scale shipments are expected once a pipeline has been built.

As reported by Reuters, Mining and Petroleum Minister John Munyes has confirmed that approval to pump water from neighbouring West Pokot County to pressurise oil wells has been granted, a crucial factor in the final investment decision on proceeding to commercial production. By 2020, he says, ‘we should have the plans to let us proceed with the construction of the pipeline from Lokichar to Lamu’.

3 September 2019
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