The East African country is abuzz with news of its first oil discovery in the dry and dusty northwest town where Africa-focused UK firm Tullow Oil Plc has been exploring.
The next step is to determine whether the find is commercially viable.
East Africa, as well as the Horn of the continent, have become a hot spot for oil and gas exploration, spurred by new finds.
“I can assure you the interest is overwhelming,” Heya said during a visit to a Tullow well just outside the small town of Lokicharat in a remote area surrounded by semi desert scrub land.
“Big companies like Petrobras, Total, even Apache and others want those very deep water blocks . . . I think it’s a testimony that there is oil in Kenya.”
Heya said there were 46 blocks; 30 are already licensed, and 16 others are unlicensed. Of the 16, 13 have expressions of interest, he said.
“There are only three which are vacant. And those ones, it’s because there is no data. We are putting in place plans to acquire data. We are also acquiring data in one of the (vacant) blocks, L19,” he said. — Reuters
