Geza Ulole
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 31, 2009
- 59,229
- 79,521
EDITORIAL: Ensure oil investment is worthwhile for Kenya
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017 23:00
BY EDITORIAL
Kenya has so far discovered 750 million barrels of oil in Turkana, an amount that quantitatively is nothing to write home about.
However, the authorities have gone all out to prepare for the extraction of the national resource, first by arranging for the transport to the Mombasa refinery by road.
The latest effort towards exploitation was the announcement carried in this newspaper Wednesday.
Under the plan, Tullow, the co-operator of the wells, signed an agreement with the government facilitating preliminary work on a pipeline to Lamu. The 865 kilometre line will cost an estimated Sh200 billion.
It will be recalled that originally, Kenya had planned a joint pipeline with Uganda, which is naturally the most sensible thing to do given the relatively small amount of recoverable oil in Kenya and the 3.5 billion barrels confirmed in Uganda. However, security issues and regional competition saw Tanzania secure the rights to host the pipeline.
While it is important to evacuate our oil to Lamu through a pipeline that can also pump back refined product upcountry, we believe it is still not too late to reevaluate the intended investment.
We need to ask a number of questions before making a final decision. One, is cooperation with Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia in transporting oil to the coast an absolute impossibility. If not, we should pursue this for the most prudent investment.
Second, Tullow, which says it has already used hundreds of billions in the wells, will be a major beneficiary of the pipeline and oil exploitation whatever happens. Is our national interest the main thing in the whole process?
Third, oil exploitation will only be viable in the next three decades. In the meantime, most car makers and energy producers are going for clean energy sources.
Indeed, most carmakers are targeting the next few years for electrical and other clean energy cars. Will our oil be needed and at what price.
We wholly support exploitation of our natural resources. But we must not make it an end in itself. We might as well consider investing the Sh200 billion in clean energy for export—actually by the private sector.
Let’s make sure we invest billions in oil when it maximally serves our interest.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/...ent-is-worthwhile-for-/539548-4155698-el20la/
MY TAKE
As I said this pipeline if is to be built will come with a whole hand n leg of Kenya’s economy
. BTW from today we are having NRM added on top of Al Shaabab to sabotage any developments up there.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2017 23:00
BY EDITORIAL
Kenya has so far discovered 750 million barrels of oil in Turkana, an amount that quantitatively is nothing to write home about.
However, the authorities have gone all out to prepare for the extraction of the national resource, first by arranging for the transport to the Mombasa refinery by road.
The latest effort towards exploitation was the announcement carried in this newspaper Wednesday.
Under the plan, Tullow, the co-operator of the wells, signed an agreement with the government facilitating preliminary work on a pipeline to Lamu. The 865 kilometre line will cost an estimated Sh200 billion.
It will be recalled that originally, Kenya had planned a joint pipeline with Uganda, which is naturally the most sensible thing to do given the relatively small amount of recoverable oil in Kenya and the 3.5 billion barrels confirmed in Uganda. However, security issues and regional competition saw Tanzania secure the rights to host the pipeline.
While it is important to evacuate our oil to Lamu through a pipeline that can also pump back refined product upcountry, we believe it is still not too late to reevaluate the intended investment.
We need to ask a number of questions before making a final decision. One, is cooperation with Uganda, Sudan and Ethiopia in transporting oil to the coast an absolute impossibility. If not, we should pursue this for the most prudent investment.
Second, Tullow, which says it has already used hundreds of billions in the wells, will be a major beneficiary of the pipeline and oil exploitation whatever happens. Is our national interest the main thing in the whole process?
Third, oil exploitation will only be viable in the next three decades. In the meantime, most car makers and energy producers are going for clean energy sources.
Indeed, most carmakers are targeting the next few years for electrical and other clean energy cars. Will our oil be needed and at what price.
We wholly support exploitation of our natural resources. But we must not make it an end in itself. We might as well consider investing the Sh200 billion in clean energy for export—actually by the private sector.
Let’s make sure we invest billions in oil when it maximally serves our interest.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/...ent-is-worthwhile-for-/539548-4155698-el20la/
MY TAKE
As I said this pipeline if is to be built will come with a whole hand n leg of Kenya’s economy
. BTW from today we are having NRM added on top of Al Shaabab to sabotage any developments up there.
