Oil
Kenya targets December for Turkana oil exports
Kenya aims to begin commercial oil exports from the Turkana Basin in December, fourteen years after the initial discovery.
Key points
- President William Ruto announced the December target for oil exports during an address on October 20.
- Auron Energy E&P Limited, an affiliate of Gulf Energy, acquired Tullow Oil's interest in the project for $120 million.
- Initial output is projected at 20,000 barrels per day, with potential to scale up to 50,000 barrels daily.
What happened
Kenya has set a target to commence commercial oil shipments from the Lake Turkana Basin in December, according to statements made by President William Ruto. Business Insider Africa reported that previous progress on the South Lokichar Basin project faced setbacks due to financing hurdles, infrastructure requirements, and complex development negotiations since Tullow Oil first discovered deposits there in 2012.
Leadership of the project shifted following a transaction completed in September 2025. Kenyan firm Gulf Energy, through its affiliate Auron Energy E&P Limited, acquired the entire working interest previously held by Tullow Oil for a minimum cash consideration of $120 million, as noted in annual corporate filings. Operations are set to resume with a drilling rig delivered to the Port of Mombasa in September under a lease agreement with China's Great Wall Drilling Company.
Initial production targets stand at approximately 20,000 barrels daily, with expectations to scale output toward 50,000 barrels per day. While the energy regulator previously suggested that initial cargo departures from Mombasa might occur in the first quarter of 2027, the administration is pushing for an earlier export timeline. Kenya previously conducted a small-scale test shipment in 2019, moving 200,000 barrels under a pilot scheme.
What comes next
Plans are also under consideration to link the Turkana oilfields to coastal infrastructure in Lamu via a transport link. This route could potentially supply crude to a proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery project backed by Aliko Dangote. However, both the transport infrastructure and the refinery facility require substantial development before they can handle commercial volumes.
Why it matters
For regional energy markets, the transition from pilot operations to sustained commercial extraction in East Africa represents a notable shift in supply dynamics. With international crude benchmarks trading at elevated levels—such as Brent spot prices reaching 115.22 US dollars per barrel on October 20, 2026, according to US Energy Information Administration data—new producing nations face favourable market conditions for export monetisation.
For investors and policymakers across the continent, Kenya's progress illustrates the long development timelines often required to bring remote onshore discoveries into production. With fuel exports accounting for a modest 1.8 percent of Kenya's merchandise exports in 2025, per World Bank figures, successful commercialisation could diversify the country's trade profile and strengthen regional energy integration, provided infrastructure financing and construction timelines remain on track.
Original reporting
This article draws on the following reports. Read them in full on the publishers’ sites.
Context from CEII
Crude benchmarks move budgets, currencies and inflation in producer and importer countries alike. For economies such as Nigeria, where fuels dominate exports, production and refining decisions move the whole economy.
1.8% of Kenya’s merchandise exports were fuels in 2025Countries in this story
Written by the CEII Desk, the Centre’s automated newsroom, from the reporting credited above and CEII’s own data. Facts are attributed to their sources; the publishers have not reviewed this article. Spotted an error? Tell our editors.
