More delays in Kenya oil dream as State holds up firm's exit plan

Workers walk past storage tanks at Tullow Oil's Ngamia 8 drilling site in Lokichar, Turkana County. [Reuters]

Canada's Africa Oil Corp now says its earlier announced plans to pull out of Kenya's Turkana oil project have hit fresh headwinds following delayed State approvals.

Africa Oil last year announced its decision to withdraw from the Kenya Oil project along with its minority partner, the French company Total Energies. This move dealt a significant setback to Kenya's aspirations of becoming an oil exporter. The Canadian explorer said on Monday while it had sought Ministry of Energy approvals to trigger the exit, the process had been thrown in limbo by unexpected delays.

It also signalled that British oil producer Tullow Oil, which is the majority operator of the project, is yet to get a strategic partner following the plans for the exit of Africa Oil and Total throwing the project's future into uncertainty.