The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that Kenya is likely to start producing oil in six to seven years’ time
In a new report published recently, the organisation termed the East African country’s recent oil discoveries in northern Turkana as ‘commercial’.
The IMF said, “Big oil discoveries in the northern Turkana region have now made Kenya a major venue for oil exploration in East Africa. It expects to start producing oil in 6-7 years.”
IMF representatives had held 10-day consultations with Kenyan representatives during their regular reviews to assess economic performance earlier this year.
“The discovery of commercially viable oil reserves made in May 2012 in the tertiary tift by Tullow Oil has led to the entry of major foreign oil companies,” IMF added.
In April this year, Tullow Oil said it had achieved close to commercial quantities of oil in Twiga South-1 well. The company earlier said in February it had successfully completed tests with a cumulative flow rate of 2,812bpd, the first potentially commercial flow rates achieved in Kenya.”
In their communication with the IMF, Kenya government officials affirmed that prospects for commercially viable oil production have improved.
IMF added that the Kenyan government intends to update the Petroleum Act in the near future and was reviewing its energy policy to facilitate prudent management of commercial oil and gas discoveries with technical assistance from the IMF.
