Kenya plans to raise Ksh 103.2 billion (US$1 billion) by listing its National Oil Corporation on the National Securities Exchange and the London Stock Exchange by early 2019, to buy a share of two oil blocks held by Tullow and its partners, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
“We need to raise money for our back-in rights,” Andrew Kamau, the principal secretary for petroleum at the Ministry of Energy, told Reuters.
Kamau did not say what stakes National Oil planned to take up in the oil blocks. He did not provide further details about the listing plans.
Kenya’s National Oil Corporation is a state-owned company that handles the government’s interest in both the upstream and downstream activities in the oil business. It owns exploration blocks and also has petrol stations in Kenya with about a 5% share of the fuel retail market.
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The two oil blocks, 13T and 10BB, are in Turkana county in the far north of the country where oil was first struck in 2012.
They are owned by Tullow, Africa Oil and A.P. Moeller Maersk.
In October, Tullow Oil’s Chief Executive Officer Paul McDade said the company would likely make a final investment decision on its Kenya project in 2019.
The government has also said it plans to issue bonds locally and abroad to raise funds for investment in the petroleum sector.
