The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum of Kenya has finalised an agreement with oil producers Tullow Oil, Africa Oil and A.P. Moller-Maersk for the development of a 891-km long crude oil pipeline between Lokichar in north-western Kenya to the south-eastern port of Lamu.
This agreement paves the way for the construction of the US$2.1bn pipeline that would enable Kenya to export crude oil from its domestic reserves. In 2012, Tullow Oil and Africa Oil discovered significant reserves in Lokichar: blocks 10 BB and 13T are estimated to hold 750 mbl of crude oil. Tullow Oil aims to start production in March 2017 and to begin exports in June 2017.
This project is an alternative to a planned Uganda-Kenya crude oil pipeline project, that was agreed in August 2015; the pipeline would have stretched from oil fields in western Uganda (border with the Democratic Republic of Congo) to the Kenyan coast, following an existing oil product pipelines in the north of the country to Lamu in Kenya, where an export port would be built. The pipeline was expected to be completed in 2018-2019. However, in April 2016, Uganda rather decided to build its export pipeline through Tanzania, after Total raised security concerns over the Kenyan route.