Senator Moi awarded for pushing for locals’ rights in oil and gas

Baringo Senator Gideon Moi is congratulated by Upstream Oil and Gas Ltd CEO Joe Watson Gakuo for winning the Legislator of the Year Award in oil and gas. [Willis Awandu, Standard]

Baringo Senator Gideon Moi was Friday evening honoured for his contribution to the energy industry.

Mr Moi, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Energy, was voted the Legislator of the Year by the oil and gas industry players at an event organised by Upstream Group.

He has been at the forefront pushing for community participation in the extractive industry, key of which is the Local Content Bill that he sponsored in the Senate. The Bill seeks more participation of local communities in the exploitation of natural resources in their regions.

“The Local Content Bill provides a unique opportunity to create a robust entrepreneurial and industrial culture in the most remote parts of Kenya that have been detached from the national economy. It seeks to promote exclusivity and progress, which will result in a healthy and progressive Kenya for all, including companies in the extractive industry as well as the community,” said Mr Moi.

If the Bill is passed into law, companies exploiting resources such as minerals, oil and gas will be required to state how they will incorporate communities in their activities before being issued with licences. The Senator has also championed for increased revenues for communities in areas where oil has been discovered.

At the conference, experts noted that the legal and policy framework proposed to govern the oil and gas industry appears to be complicating governance of the industry.

Sonal Sejpal, airector at local law firm Anjarwala and Khanna, said various proposed laws have approached similar issues in different ways, causing confusion for players.

“There are several legislations, proposed and existing, that cause confusion,” she said. “There are inconsistencies. There are things that are ambiguous and until they are subjected to judicial interpretation, the current situation from the relevant government departments is unclear.”

Such issues include definition of ‘community’ by the different proposed laws, which Ms Sejpal noted projected uncertainty in the legal framework for investors. “Where there is no fiscal and legal certainty, investors will view this as a problem,” she said.

Managers instead of welders

Brian Muriuki, the country manager for Shell International Exploration, said there are numerous opportunities in the oil and gas industry, with the skills acquired while working for the industry being transferable to other sectors. Young people should, thus, stop the obsession with white collar jobs and instead take the blue collar jobs, which at times are more rewarding than office jobs, he added.

“What is this obsession with white collar jobs? People want to be engineers and managers instead of welders, which is where the money is. A pipeline welder is paid Sh50,000 per day, while welding under water can earn one between Sh100,000 and Sh200,000 a day,” said Muriuki.

“We only have two certified welders in the country. We are currently planning to do a 900km pipeline from Turkana to Lamu, which cannot be done by two welders. We need technicians from vocational institutions to fill these positions and if we do not, we will start importing labour,” he said.

Mr Muriuki said there is need to invest in further exploration of oil to increase the amount of recoverable resources. Currently, Kenya has found 750 million barrels of recoverable oil in Lokichar area in Turkana.

“We only have 750 million barrels to exploit in Turkana County yet we are excited and think everybody will be driving a Mercedes. Let’s build the skills and expertise and be able to not only transfer within but externally, as is the case with Nigeria and Philippines,” added Mr Muriuki.

Lacks technicians

Petroleum Institute of East Africa Chairman Powell Maimba expressed concern that the country’s priorities are misplaced, going by last year’s statistics on fuel consumption. “Seventy-five per cent of our fuel consumption was burnt in the traffic jam, while eight per cent went to agriculture and five per cent to manufacturing and production. We spent little producing food to eat,” he said.

“Jobs are in the manufacturing and production sector. Producing oil, diesel and petrol is creating jobs. We have 700 filling stations in Kenya, with an average of five pumps, translating to 3,500pumps,” said Mr Maimba, adding that the country lacks enough technicians to service pumps.

“The opportunity is now, not in the future. Shell, Total and others are sharing three technicians. This is terrible,” he said.

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