Turkana’s oilfields are set to turn hundreds of Kenyans and foreign experts into millionaires even before commercial production of the black gold commences in three years’ time.
The planned transportation of 2,000 barrels of oil per day from the Turkana oil fields to the port of Mombasa for export using flatbed trucks mounted with oil tanks is seen as opening the very first window for making big money for suppliers in a long value chain that includes mining, storage, transport and security.
The first barrel of Turkana oil expected to hit storage tanks in Mombasa next month.
One tanker can carry up to 200 barrels of oil or 31,800 litres. This means 10 trucks will be leaving Lokichar every day for the port of Mombasa, promising a potential goldmine for motor dealers with the capacity to quickly buy and import the vehicles.
That will require hundreds of millions of shillings from banks opening a window for financial institutions to take their pound of the meat. Last week, Tullow signed a production agreement with the Kenyan government, paving the way for the first consignment of crude oil from the Turkana fields to be transported to Mombasa in readiness for export.
The British oil explorer is expected to pick the transporter(s) of the crude by end of month.
Kenya has enlisted the legal services of London-based law firm Simmons & Simmons to shepherd the export plan estimated to be worth millions of dollars and making the firm another big winner in the country’s early oil export bonanza.
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