Uhuru to flag off inaugural shipment of Kenyan Crude Oil

Kenya’s maiden crude oil is set to hit the international market. President Uhuru Kenyatta will Monday morning flag off the inaugural shipment of Kenyan Crude Oil at the port Of Mombasa.

The crude oil will be shipped by Chinese state owned firm ChemChina which won the tender to buy the maiden Kenyan oil early this month.

The sale gives momentum to the nascent oil exploration industry in Kenya.

The export of Kenyan Crude Oil will start with a shipment of 200,000 barrels marking Kenya’s entry into the league of oil exporting countries.

ChemChina UK Ltd was selected as the buyer for Kenya’s first crude oil exports worth Sh1.2 billion.

Tullow estimates that Kenya’s onshore fields in Turkana hold 560 million barrels of oil and expects them to produce up to 100,000 barrels per day from 2022.

The government had received eight bids from international firms representing European and Asian refineries after it issued the tender to buy the oil on July 26.

Early this month President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the entry of Kenya into the exclusive club of oil exporting nations.

This follows a deal by UK based Chinese oil dealer ChemChina to buy Kenya’s maiden 200k barrels of crude oil from oil miner Tullow Oil at a cost of 1.2 billion shillings.

The Chinese firm, which is the oil trading arm of ChemChina Petrochemical, is engaged in crude oil trading, storage and procurement of the commodity.