Kenya cuts oil export targets

Kenya has cut its export targets for crude oil to 400,000 barrels per year during the period from 2021 to 2023, the ministry of petroleum has announced. The revision marks a decrease from the 500,000 barrel target set for 2020. 

Speaking in ongoing public hearings on Thursday, Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau said "The ministry projects to export some 400,000 barrels of crude annually for the Financial Year 2020/2021, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023. We are going to concentrate on the development of the oilfields and the pipeline”. 

The decrease reflects a general slowdown already affecting Kenya’s oil industry this year. Earlier, British oil exploring company Tullow announced that it would be cutting its expenditure for Kenyan operation by 43% in 2020. 

Tullow says it will need reassess its strategy in light of the huge costs associated with the new pipeline plans. 

The government is also facing criticism for the Kenya Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas over plans to transport oil from Turkana to Mombasa by truck. The organisation says that the project - which amounts to roughly two ships a year - has fundamental issues that should have been addressed before operations began. The first consignment of 250,000 barrels was sold to a Chinese oil multinational in August.

Photo credit: NMG