Lokichar Oil Fields in Turkana projected to export 120,000 Barrels of crude oil per day upon completion of the Lamu Lokichar pipeline

The Lokichar Oil fields in Turkana County will export 120,000 barrels of crude oil to the Lamu Port per day once the proposed Lokichar-Lamu Oil Pipeline is constructed, up from 2,000 barrels being transported by oil tankers nowadays.

The Commissioner for Petroleum in the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, Mr. James Ng'ang'a said the future of Kenya joining the league of leading oil producers in Africa looks very bright given that the Ministry has also embarked on mapping all potential offshore and on-shore oil producing blocks along the Kenyan Coast to supplement the oil being produced from Blocks 13T and 10 BB in Lokichar in Turkana County.

To ensure optimum oil production from the two oil blocks in Lokichar, Mr. Ng'ang'a added that over 160,000 barrels of water will be pumped from the Turkwel Hydro-electric Dam to enhance and support crude oil production.

"Pumping crude oil from the bowels of the earth needs a lot of water and my Ministry has engaged residents of West Pokot who have agreed to allow us to extract water from the Turkwel Dam on condition that we build six offtake points along the water pipeline route heading to Lokichar to supply all communities living along that route with the commodity for domestic use”, said the Commissioner.

Mr. Ng'ang'a revealed that the construction of the Lokichar-Lamu Crude Oil Pipeline will create thousands of jobs both directly and  indirectly, accelerate the opening up of the hitherto marginalized Northern Corridor through the construction of modern roads, expand the Port of Lamu to its optimum, spur construction of a railway line to tap cargo haulage from Ethiopia and South Sudan through the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET), installation of high voltage power lines and optimize the growth of resort cities like Isiolo and its International airport .

“Being alive to international trends in renewable energies, we as a Ministry are focused on accelerating the development of the oil sector to its optimum”, said the Petroleum Commissioner.

During a stakeholder sensitization meeting with residents of Turkwel Sub county, the the Director of Administration in the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining, Mr Elsamma Ndegwa thanked residents of West Pokot for accepting to supply water to the oil wells and noted that Turkana and West Pokot Counties which have suffered marginalization for decades will get faster infrastructural and human capital development courtesy of the Oil production and the pipeline.

“The Oil production and pipeline will spur growth in business between Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan, restore peace and security in the hitherto cattle rustling prone areas, take government services closer to the people, supply every resident with water, enhance the East African integration process and minimize conflicts among pastoralists over livestock watering points", said Mr. Ndegwa.

He further said the LAPSSET project will spur tourism and fishing in the Lake Turkana region and assured locals that the oil pipeline will not affect the pastoralism sector at all.

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