Kenya will start transporting crude oil by road from Turkana to the port of Mombasa in coming months under the Early Oil Pilot Scheme program.

Tullow Oil says the oil produced is initially being stored until all necessary consents and approvals are granted.

Kenya has been looking forward to join the league of crude oil exporters with the discovery of oil at the Lokichar Basin in Turkana County.

This has however delayed due to many reasons including security concerns, environmental concerns, and logistical challenges.

Tullow Oil says trucking of crude oil from Lokichar to the Port of Mombasa will commence in coming months.

Tullow Oil says “Discussions between local and national Government are on-going with expectations of being able commence the trucking of oil in the coming months”.

For now, oil produced is being stored until all necessary consents and approvals are granted for the transfer of crude oil to Mombasa by road.

Tullow Oil says they have been conducting tests on how the oil will behave in different temperatures when being transported to the refinery in Mombasa for storage and so far the results have been positive.

Tullow Oil “expects comprehensive results from the extended injection and production testing at both Amosing and Ngamia to be announced in the third quarter of 2018”.

The firm says the final investment decision and the construction of the pipeline will be concluded in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Tullow oil says the “upstream baseline data collection for the Environmental Social Impact Assessment has commenced and the pipeline Front End Engineering Design contract is expected to be awarded this month”.

Source: KBC

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