Move will hit Turkana, where Tullow Oil discovered commercially viable quantities of crude

Tullow Oil workers

Kenya has cut the share of revenue communities receive from local oil discoveries to 20 percent from an earlier offer of 30 percent, a senior government official said on Friday.

The move will hit the northern county of Turkana, where Tullow Oil discovered commercially viable quantities of crude in 2012. Full production of the oil, estimated at 750 million barrels, is expected in 2021.

Other partners in the blocks where Tullow has discoveries are Africa Oil Corp and A.P. Moller-Maersk . In draft legislation last November the government seemed to have acquiesced to the community’s demand for a 30 percent share of revenue. However, that version of the law was later withdrawn, with the government citing “typographical errors”.

 A new draft is due to be introduced to parliament next month and Andrew Kamau, principal secretary for petroleum at the Ministry of Energy, told Reuters the new bill will offer 15 percent of the revenue to the county government and 5 percent to the community, with the rest going to the national government.