Tullow: First oil shipments from Kenya expected by mid 2019

Tullow oil expects the first oil shipments from its base in Turkana to be ready by the halfway point of 2019.

Pricing for the crude oil is also being set by the oil company, Tullow chief executive Paul McDade told Reuters on November 6.

“We will have a shipment of Kenyan crude ready to go probably in the first or second quarter of next year. We will market that and it allows the refiners to see the crude and try the crude so that helps the marketing process,” McDade told the international media agency.

The zero sulphur content in Kenya’s crude oil is likely to give it a premium pricing, according to the Tullow CEO.

Additionally,  Tullow has a planned pipeline project in Kenya, with Mr. McDade telling Reuters that tenders for the project would probably go out in the first half of 2019.

This will come as a relief to the oil project that stalled in late July after Tullow Oil paused operations at its oilfield in Turkana due to local protests over insecurity in the area.

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Protesters blocked trucks ferrying crude oil, forcing the trucks to turn around. The trucks usually carry around 600 barrels of oil per day to the coast and are part of the pilot scheme’s transport mechanism before a pipeline is built which should be operational by 2022.

The protestors had decried what they perceived as growing insecurity in the region and even discrimination by Tullow.

In August, the British oil and gas firm arrived at a deal with the Kenyan government to resume work after the State guaranteed to put in place systems to address the Turkana residents’ concerns.

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*Quotes from Reuters