Kenyan Cabinet Secretary of Petroleum and Mining Hon. John Munyes Commits to African Energy Week in Cape Town, Promotes Kenyan Exploration Opportunities.
September 07, 2021
With official speaker confirmations made by Cabinet Secretary Hon. John Munyes, Kenya joins other East African producers at African Energy Week in Cape Town, promoting the region’s lucrative investment opportunities to global stakeholders.
John Munyes, Cabinet Secretary for Kenya’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mining,Photo credit Boniface Okendo/Standard
In a recent move to position East-Africa as an attractive investment destination, Kenya has joined a myriad of African ministers from across the continent, including regional neighbors Somalia and South Sudan, coming to Cape Town for the highly anticipated African Energy Week (AEW) 2021. The official speaker confirmation made by Hon. John Munyes, Cabinet Secretary for Kenya’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, reaffirms AEW 2021’s standing as the official meeting place for African energy decision makers, with Kenyan opportunities being showcased to global stakeholders in Cape Town.
Representing the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, Hon. Munyes is committed to enhancing Kenya’s hydrocarbon industry, promoting the sustainable development of the country’s extractives sector. Appointed in 2018, Hon. Munyes has played a valuable role in expanding the country’s petroleum sector, foreseeing the accelerated expansion of exploration and production country wide. Despite exploration starting in Kenya in the 1950s, the first commercial oil deposits were only discovered by British-based Tullow Oil in 2012. Since then, the country has been committed to accelerating exploration, with notable discoveries being made in the offshore Lamu basin.
Kenya’s attractiveness comes through its significant exploration opportunities and AEW 2021 aims to emphasize prospects to the world. The country holds over 4 billion barrels of crude oil reserves in the Lokichar sub-basin alone of which 750 million are commercial – currently operated by Tullow and partners. With four sedimentary basins in total, Kenya is actively pursuing regional and global stakeholder participation to help drive hydrocarbon growth and production. In addition to Tullow Oil, Kenya has seen the active participation of industry giants including BP, Shell, Texas Pacific, Africa Oil Corporation, Chevron, TotalEnergies, Vanoil, Lio Petroleum and CNOCC. The country has seen a range of drilling campaigns over the years, with stakeholders hoping to mirror the achievements seen in neighboring east-African countries such as Mozambique and Tanzania. AEW 2021 provides the best platform for engagement with international financiers, global explorers, and key stakeholders, and Kenyan opportunities will be showcased to the world in Cape Town.
Kenya currently has one refinery – the 90,000 barrel per day (bpd) Mombasa refinery – and plans to expand energy networks both in the country and across the region, which will attract investment targeted towards export pipelines, storage facilities, shipping terminals and refineries. Accordingly, this presents a huge opportunity for international stakeholders, in which associated development can help position the country as a competitive east-African producer. Kenya is committed to regional collaboration with regards to energy sector growth. Most notably, the country has prioritized intra-African transportation networks with projects such as the Lamu Port and Lamu-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor Project (LAPSSET) – a transport and logistics infrastructure project that includes the construction of a 120,000-bpd refinery in Kenya. Committed to improving its regional distribution capacity and accelerating upstream production, Kenya will be a valuable east-African representative at AEW 2021 in Cape Town.
“Hon. Munyes is positioning Kenya not only as an east-African producer, but as a global hydrocarbon competitor. The country’s progress to enhance regional connectivity and expand intra-African networks is highly commendable, and Hon. Munyes has played an instrumental role in this area. In Cape Town, Hon. Munyes will drive a strong Kenyan narrative, placing the country on the global stage, and reiterating the role that east-African nations will play in Africa’s energy transformation,” continued Ayuk.
Under Hon. Munyes’ leadership, the Ministry has made significant progress in creating an enabling environment, not only regarding efficient operations in the sector, but international investment. As Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Munyes has been committed to providing a clean, sustainable, affordable, reliable, secure and high-quality energy for enhanced national development. With an ambitious target to increase electricity connectivity from 15% to 65% by 2022, and installed capacity currently at 2.3GW, of which 57% is hydropower and 32% thermal, Kenya offers up lucrative opportunities for international investors in both the petroleum and power sectors. Hon. Munyes has driven progress regarding this area and the wider petroleum industry, and will come to AEW 2021 in Cape Town with the purpose of engaging, networking, and signing deals.
