Kenya to export the second consignment of crude oil in February

By Samuel Ouma |@journalist_27

President Uhuru Kenyatta during the official flagging off of the Kenya’s first oil shipment

Come February, 2020 Kenya will export the second consignment of 500,000 barrels of crude oil, an increase from 200,000 barrels shipped in August 2019.

The East African joined the rank of the petroleum exporting countries after it released its first batch of 200,000 barrels to the international market under the Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS), an initiative owned by the government. The oil was dispatched by the China National Chemical Corporation Ltd (ChemChina) at a cost of $12 million.

Addressing the press in Nairobi on Tuesday, Brian Muriuki an advisor to the State Department of Petroleum and mining reiterated that the government is aiming at establishing the demand for Kenya’s oil in the global markets.

“We want to sell crude oil in bigger consignments in future in order to achieve better prices at the international oil markets. Good performance of Kenya’s oil in the international market will also give confidence to the oil exploring firms to scale up investment to achieve commercial production,” Muriuki said.

Two thousand barrels are produced daily at the oil fields in Lokichar basins, Northwest of Kenya. The British firm Tullow had revealed that the onshore fields have approximately 560 million barrels which will see the country producing between 60,000 to 100, 000 barrels per day in near future.

According to Muriuki, the investment decision will be arrived at once some key factors such as the approval of the project’s environmental impact assessment by the Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the completion of commercial agreements to new funding have been dealt with.

Kenya’s oil has been described as waxy since it needs heating at room temperature, sweet and light due to its low sulphur content.