Kenya enters the oil business
The East African country exports its first consignment of oil while Tullow prepares for 2020 FID
Tullow signed heads of terms with Kenya’s government in June, having agreed the key commercial principles for the development of discoveries in blocks 10BB and 13T in the South Lokichar Basin, near Lake Turkana. “We are looking to sanction the project in the second half of 2020,” says Mark MacFarlane, Tullow’s executive vice president for East Africa. “The contentious issues, if there were any contentious issues, have been agreed.” Kenya’s Turkana oil reserves, discovered in 2012, are estimated at 560mn bl. Tullow owns a 50pc stake in the project, while its partners, Canada’s Africa Oil Corp and Total, each hold 25pc. Combined, they have invested $2bn. Turkana is in Kenya’s remote, undeve
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
