Civil society pushes for amendments to Petroleum Bill to open up contracts

There is a renewed push to make public the contracts that Kenya has signed with oil and gas exploratory firms.

This is as the country prepares to start exporting the ‘black gold’ on pilot basis later this year.

Kenyan will commence commercial production by 2021. Civil society lobbies, however, want Parliament to include in Petroleum Bill 2017 clauses that require State agencies and companies in the fledgling upstream industry to disclose information on their activities upon public request as well as publish the same on their websites.

The Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production Bill being debated in the National Assembly, is silent on divulging information to the public despite close interaction between communities in resource-rich areas, Government and private entities.

The Kenya Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (KCSPOG), Natural Justice and Kenya Oil and Gas Working Group want increased transparency in an industry that has been characterised by opaqueness. There has been little requirement for disclosure among companies exploring for oil in the country.

The State has also been giving scanty information, citing confidentiality and at times sensitive nature of the industry. To date, only a few of the Public Sharing Contracts signed between Government and oil exploratory companies can be accessed by Kenyans for scrutiny.

The few made public are due to regulatory requirements in the home markets of these companies.

In a submission to the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, the three lobbies have proposed an addition to the segment in the Bill requiring the proposed Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to publish information about firms searching for or producing oil in the country as well as the state of the industry.

Upstream petroleum

According to KCSPOG, the proposed law should have a clause requiring the regulator to “provide such information concerning upstream petroleum operations in Kenya to the public on request and its website”.

It also wants the regulator to “develop guidelines on how public consultations will be done with local communities when developing infrastructure and operations for the upstream petroleum sector”.

“It is vital that the authority provide direction on how the Kenyan public will have access to information,” said the three lobbies in the submission.

It is not the first time that Kenya has been pushed to open up on the deals signed with firms licensed to undertake activities in the different blocks. The Petroleum Ministry has signed 44 public sharing contracts with over 20 firms prospecting for oil and gas.

Out of these, only 10 contracts are publicly available, which is mostly due to regulatory requirements in the countries they are headquartered in.

KCSPOG has in the past said that the secretive nature of contracts could be exposing the country to losses in future - through concessions made to companies.

Most of the agreements have, however, been confidential, making it difficult for the public and locals to hold the firms to account for their contractual obligations.

The lobby also wants upstream industry regulator to protect the environment and rights of people in oil-rich areas.

Petroleum and Mining Cabinet Secretary John Munyes said they will engage the community, county government, and assembly, and professionals to tame oil revenue sharing conflicts.