It was reported in the month of May 2018 that Kenya will start exporting oil in December as an early oil pilot scheme. The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum, Mr. Andrew Kamau, stated that, "2,000 barrels of oil will be transported daily via insulated tank containers from the oil fields in the Lokichar Basin in northwest Kenya to the port of Mombasa."
Mr. Kamau further said that, "once we have acquired 400,000 barrels of oil which we estimate will occur in December, we will then sell it to the international oil markets through a tender process.”
Kenya is currently undertaking the Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS) before full field oil production begin in 2021.
"The EOPS will help Kenya become a crude oil exporter while providing valuable information on the international market for Kenyan crude", said Mr. Kamau.
“However, it (EOPS) is an important step towards full scale commercialisation of the oil deposits as it will provide important technical data on the oil well performance over time,” Kamau said.
EOPS will also allow national and country governments to benefit enabling technical experience and capability as oil sector transitions from exploration and appraisal into development and production.
Mr. Kamau noted that current production at the Amosing and Ngamia fields is between 400 to 500 barrels per day and production is expected to be increase to upto 2,000 barrels per day in the coming year. Once the crude oil pipeline is built, production will reach between 80,000 to 100,000 barrels per day.
The oil was previous stored at storage tanks next to the oil fields whereas now it will be stored at the port of Mombasa storage facility.
The EOPS is being undertaken by the Kenyan government and the Kenya Joint Venture Partners which is comprising of Tullow Oil, Africa Oil and Total Oil who own the Blocks 10BB and 13T.
He said that East Africa is becoming a fast key player in the global oil and gas scene as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Sudan have already made hydrocarbons discoveries.
Kenya having a discussion with international pipeline construction firms have shown an interest in building an oil pipeline from Lokichar oil fields to the Lamu port in the Indian Ocean coast.