The Kenyan government has settled on Wood Group Plc (WGL) to design the country’s oil pipeline to pump crude oil from the land-locked Amosing and Ngamia fields in Northern Kenya to the Indian Ocean port of Lamu.
Construction of the 800-km pipeline estimated to cost US$2 billion is expected to start in 2019 and take two years to complete targeting the first phase of commercial oil production in 2022. The pipeline is expected to pump 60,000-80,000 barrels per day (bpd) when complete.
The commercial oil reserves in Kenya were discovered in the Lokichar basin in 2012 in a series of explorations carried out by Britain’s Tullow Oil Plc (TLW.L) which also operates the fields.
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Tullow Oil said it would undertake production in phases, starting with what it terms the foundation stage, which will involve the production of 210 million barrels of oil from Ngamia and Amosing fields.
The other investors are Canada’s Africa Oil (AOI.TO) and France’s Total (TOTF.PA). Kenya is expected to take a stake through state-owned National Oil (NOCK).