Tullow to resume oil shipment today

Armed police officers escort tanktainers loaded with crude oil from the Ngamia 8 Oil Well in Nakukulas, Turkana County. The president flagged of four tanktainers setting off from Lokichar to the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited in Changamwe. [PHOTO: KEVIN TUNOI/STANDARD]

Tullow Oil will resume trucking of crude oil from Turkana to Mombasa tomorrow, close to two months after the process was halted in the wake of protests by Turkana county residents.

The firm yesterday said it had managed to mobilise equipment and staff at its operational base in Lokichar and was yesterday loading the oil onto the specialised tankers to ferry it to Mombasa.

The community in Lokichar had protested against insecurity in the area, which they said was among the issues the Government had promised to address as it started the implementation of the Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS).

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“Following the announcement on August 13… that EOPS trucking will resume on or around August, Tullow would like to confirm that the oil transporting trucks are completing loading operations and are ready to leave the loading site on August 23,” said Tullow Kenya Managing Director Martin Mbogo.

The firm has contracted three logistics firm to move the crude to storage facilities at Kenya Petroleum Refineries for stock piling and later export, with the first cargo expected to leave Mombasa by March next year.

Under the pilot project, Tullow expects to produce 2,000 barrels of oil and truck them to Mombasa once it starts production of oil by end of this year.

The firm is currently moving 600 barrels of oil a day, which was produced during an extended well testing programme in 2015.