The ship carrying Kenya’s first crude oil was flagged off by President Kenyatta on August 26. Photo/PSCU.
MOMBASA, Kenya Aug 26 – Kenya has formally started exporting her first oil to the international market in what President Uhuru Kenyatta described as a major milestone in the country’s transformation when he flagged off 200,000 barrels from the coastal city of Mombasa.
The maiden export was bought by Chemchina, a Chinese company, at the cost of Sh1.2 billion for export to Malaysia.
President Kenyatta, who flagged off the export from the port of Mombasa said Kenya has now joined the league of oil exporting nations.
“The first export of crude oil by our nation, therefore marks, a special moment in our history as a people and as a country,” he said, waving a Kenyan flag aboard a tanker at the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa that will be carrying the oil to Asia.
“There are special moments that mark a turning point in the destiny of our nation,” Kenyatta said at the ceremony.
“The first export of crude oil by our nation, therefore, marks a special moment in our history as a people and as a country.”
Kenyatta said the first attempts at finding oil in Kenya date back to 1937 but it was not until 2012 that a commercially-viable deposit was located.
This field was discovered in the South Lokichar Basin in Turkana, in Kenya’s far north, by British firm Tullow and its joint venture partners.
The company estimates the field holds 560 million barrels of oil.
In early June 2018, the company began shipping crude from Turkana to Mombasa by road. It will eventually be shipped via a pipeline under construction.
Kenyatta said it “showed the global market that Kenya possesses the know-how and the infrastructure required to facilitate full- fired development”.
“This first oil pilot scheme has also brought with it prosperity for the people of Turkana but also the wider republic with very many local communities directly benefiting from employment opportunities in production and logistics,” he said.
