Site operation. [Photo/www.tullowoil.com]
Kenya Tullow Oil Plc is set to begin exporting Kenya’s crude oil by early 2018 even as a study done by Oxfam, a non-governmental organization, indicates the company has not implemented some of the key agreements it signed with the Turkana communities.
Tullow Oil Plc chief executive Paul Mcdade said the exploration and appraisal drilling in the South Lokichar Basin has been concluded thus paving way for the early oil pilot programme scheme and the development of discovered resources.
Following successful testing of exploration wells drilled in the programme, Mcdade said, it proved the northern extent of the basin and the Emekuya-1 well further de-risked the Greater Atom structure and the northern area of the basin.
“As part of the Extended Opportunity Programmes and Services (EOPS) extended production, water injection testing and a waterflood pilot test utilizing the Ngamia-11 well are planned for the first half of 2018,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a report titled: Testing Community Consent: Tullow Oil Projects in Kenya, launched yesterday, Oxfam noted that serious lack of access by community members to the documentation of the consultations, negotiations, and agreements a core requirement of International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) performance standard and a central tenet of the principle of free, prior informed consent.
The company agreed to engage both national and county governments, provide employment opportunities and pay Sh7 million to communities around the areas where the projects are being undertaken. According to Oxfam, IFC, which owns shares worth $50 million (Sh5.1 billion) in Tullow Oil, had set out some requirements which Tullow agreed to implement.