Kiraitu in Sudan to fine tune oil deal
A delegation from Nairobi is in Khartoum to fine-tune an initial agreement for oil importation.
Led by Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi, the team is expected to hold discussions on the proposals with its Sudanese counterparts. Last year, Kenya and Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding that would see her import 500,000 barrels of crude oil monthly from the country.
Counterpart
Foreign Affairs minister, Moses Wetangula, and his Sudanese counterpart, Deng Alor Kuol, signed the pact in Nairobi last August.
The pact also required the National Oil Corporation and Sudan Petroleum Corporation to sign another agreement on how to implement the deal. Nock’s managing director, Mwendia Nyaga and PS Patrick Nyoike are accompanying the minister.
Earlier in March, Mr Nyoike said the pursuit of the importation deal with Sudan was still on, but that the Sudanese oil could not be processed at Mombasa’s oil refineries.
For swapping
“It is true that Sudan’s oil cannot be processed at our local refinery, but arrangements can be made for swapping it in the international markets,” he told journalists.
He added that Kenya would seek to exchange Sudanese crude, which is heavy and waxy, with oil suitable for Kenya’s refinery.
But when contacted, an official at the Kenya Petroleum Refinery Limited said the refinery was yet to sample the oil.
“Unless we sample the oil from Sudan, it cannot be said that we cannot refine it. There are certain parameters used for such conclusions which we are yet to go through to,” said the official on condition of anonymity, since he is not authorised to talk to the media
Sudan has rich oil reserves in the Abyei region and it is what Kenya is seeking to benefit from on the basis of proximity, and the ever rising global crude oil prices
Currently, Kenya buys Murban crude through an open tender system where the winning marketer imports on behalf of all marketers for a given time.
The search for its own oil deposits has also not waned, despite several negative feedbacks from test explorations that have been carried out.
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