Kenya exports first crude oil cargo

Maiden shipment was purchased for Dh44m by Chinese trading company ChemChina to be sent by tanker to Malaysia

 Tanker trucks were used to haul the crude to export from the port city of Mombasa, Kenya. Reuters

Kenya exported its first-ever batch of crude oil on Monday, with President Uhuru Kenyatta declaring the shipment of 200,000 barrels a "special moment" in the country's history.

The president unfurled the Kenyan flag aboard a tanker at the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa that will be carrying the oil to Asia.

"There are special moments that mark a turning point in the destiny of our nation," Mr Kenyatta said at the ceremony, according to AFP. "The first export of crude oil by our nation, therefore, marks a special moment in our history as a people and as a country."

This is an experimental phase to test the country’s crude oil before full production and exportation beings in around 2024.

The maiden shipment was purchased for $12 million (Dh44m) by Chinese trading company ChemChina for export to Malaysia.

"ChemChina UK has been selected as the buyer for Kenya's first crude oil exports," said petroleum principal secretary Andrew Kamau on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Tullow and its partner Africa Oil discovered commercial oil reserves in the Lokichar basin in Kenya's far northern county of Turkana in 2012. Total has since taken a 25 per cent stake in the project. Tullow estimates the field holds 560 million barrels of oil.

Since last year the group has been running a pilot scheme to transport some 2,000 barrels per day by truck to the port city of Mombasa to test flow rates and other technical issues before the start of full production and exports via a pipeline, to be built by 2022.

Mr Kenyatta said the first attempts at finding oil in Kenya date back to 1937 but it was not until 2012 that a commercially-viable deposit was located.

Mr Kenyatta said it "showed the global market that Kenya possesses the know-how and the infrastructure required to facilitate full- fired development".

"This first oil pilot scheme has also brought with it prosperity for the people of Turkana but also the wider republic with very many local communities directly benefiting from employment opportunities in production and logistics," he said.