Kenya has finally joined a list of countries considered to be oil exporters in the continent after striking 1.3 billion shillings worth deal.
The 1.3 billion shillings deal will see Kenya export 200,000 barrels of crude oil to an undisclosed buyer.
“We are now an oil exporter. Our first deal was concluded this afternoon with 200,000 barrels at a price of 12 million dollars,” President Uhuru Kenyatta announced amid cheers.
This is Kenya’s first sale of crude oil from Turkana County and though considered a small scale compared to other exporters, it could be lifesaving to the people of the County who continue to wallow in poverty.
The crude oil was valued based on the international crude oil prices of about 6,500 shillings per barrel at 1.3 billion shillings
Tullow Company, which is in charge, used to move an estimated 600 barrels of the crude oil in a day but now moves 2000 since the month of May.
The oil is moved by road to Mombasa Company where it is shipped from through the Indian Ocean.
Secret from the Public
The Turkana oil deal was signed between Kenya and the Turkana oil exploration firms. According to the Petroleum Secretary John Munyes the Turkana oil deal will be kept as a secret from the taxpayers despite the Constitution requiring otherwise.
Tullow Oil, Total, and Africa Oil are among the partners who signed the Head of Terms (HoT) agreement, as stated by Mr. Munyes in a previous statement.
“You don’t have to worry about the details of HoT because it has taken good care of Kenyans’ interests,” Mr. Munyes told the media while keeping the deal details away from the media.
“It took us 15 months of grueling negotiations to come up with terms that are agreeable to all the parties,” CS Munyes insisted.
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