Total to join Kenya’s oil venture

French oil giant Total SA is set to become the latest partner in Kenya’s quest to become an oil producing nation.

The oil company is set to acquire shares in three oil blocks currently held by AP Moeller-Maersk.

This will see Total become part of a joint venture deal aimed at commercializing the country’s 750 million barrels of crude oil that have so far been estimated.

“Kenya is optimistic that the entry of Total into the Kenya joint venture will strengthen the financial resources and technical competence to the joint venture and this will go a long way in accelerating the development of the resources in these blocks,” Statehouse Spokesman Manoh Esipisu said in a statement following a meeting between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Total SA executives.

The proposed acquisition will now see the joint venture run by Tullow, Africa Oil and Total.

Total will acquire shares in blocks 10BA, 10BB and 13T and will also be granted future share capital in ongoing oil projects.

Kenya becomes the latest east African country Total has ventured into in oil exploration after buying out Tullow in Uganda and is set to finance an oil pipeline from Uganda to Tanzania.

Total marketing President Momar Nguer said the firm has also committed to being part of Kenya’s independent oil pipeline that will run from Lokichar in Turkana County to the Lamu Port.

Kenya has been forced to draw up its own pipeline project after Uganda pulled out of a joint pipeline deal with Kenya in 2016.