Tullow Oil Plc on Wednesday, March 6, announced an ambitious Ksh1.4 billion investment that may lower fuel prices in Kenya in the long term.
The investment was revealed during the unveiling of the company’s Full-Year Results for the year ended 31 December 2023.
Tullow Kenya Managing Director Madhan Srinivasan noted that the company had engaged the Kenyan government to develop 470 mmboe resources to produce up to 120 kbopd in Turkana oil fields.
Mmboe means a million barrels of oil equivalent per day while kbopd means a thousand barrels of oil per day
The plan will cost an estimated USD10 million (Ksh1.4 billion) and according to the company, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has already handed out an official notification extending the review period of the updated Tullow’s Field Development Plan (FDP) to 30 June 2024.
Additionally, the company is working closely with the Ministry of Energy to accelerate production to unlock the value of the oil fields in Turkana.
"We are collaboratively working with the Government of Kenya as they evaluate the FDP. Once their evaluation is concluded, the FDP will be submitted to the Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum for review before submission to Parliament for final approval,” the Managing Director stated.
“The development has been designed to be robust at lower oil prices, and we continue discussions with prospective strategic partners for this project.”
Tullow Oil Plc first discovered oil in Turkana in 2012 and at the time, the region was estimated to hold three billion barrels of oil.
In 2023, the company announced that it was ready to start commercial exploration of the oil.
At the time, the energy company announced that Kenya would be able to extract and export crude oil for 25 years.
Initially, the country had exported two batches of crude oil from Kenya which was meant for analysis and appraisal.
