Govt in talks with buyers for early oil

The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has begun engaging refineries over possibility of refining Kenya’s crude oil.

The ministry is conducting tests on the crude with an eye on exporting by June 2017.

Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau said this will ensure Kenya has a ready market to export oil to as part of the early oil pilot scheme.

“What we have done in the couple of months is to send samples to a few traders and refineries in the Middle East, India and the Far East to see what sort of value we can get for them. Each crude is different. Each refinery is built for a specific type of crude. Let’s see what they come back with. When we are ready to ship in June at that stage we will know where it’s going to go,” Mr Kamau said.

Kenya has an estimated 750 million barrels of recoverable reserves.

Earlier in the year, Uganda pulled out of a joint pipeline deal with Kenya, forcing the government to consider road, rail and sea transport to get the crude oil  in Turkana to Mombasa for export.

The government working with Tullow Oil, Africa Oil and Maersk international will utilize the existing wells in Turkana County to transport 2,000 barrels of oil per day to Mombasa v for export.

Mr Kamau however stressed the government is unlikely to make any money from early oil exports.

According to the government, global crude prices need to range between $50 and $55 for crude oil sales to be profitable.

“There is no money being generated for Kenya from the pilot project,” he stressed.

The PS was however confident that the knowledge gained from the pilot early oil project would be invaluable to making Kenya become part of the league of oil producing nations.

Infrastructural works are on course signaling a bright future for Kenya which currently is a net importer of oil.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in conjunction with Kenya National Highway Authority are building the road from Lokichar to Webuye and Kitale.

The A1 highway will help move trucks and containers to Mombasa.

Mr Kamau said the ministry will conclude export plans by March 2017, after securing a net importer for the crude.

“This is a new crude it has never been sold anywhere in the market .refineries don’t know how it looked before. We have to cast our nets wide. At the end of the day, we cannot say our crude will go to a certain place and leave somewhere else when we have never seen the crude before, “he said.

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kenya government crude oil Tullow Africa Oil Ministry of Energy and Petroleum early oil project 750 million barrels of recoverable reserves oil producing nation

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