Africa Oil and its Kenyan-based partners are set to drill up to eight exploration and appraisal wells in the country from next month.
According to a Reuters news agency report, the group – which includes Tullow Oil and Maersk – initially planned to build a single pipeline to connect Ugandan oil fields and the Kenyan project to Kenya's coast, but Uganda opted to build its own pipeline via Tanzania.
CEO of Africa Oil, Keith Hill, was quoted by Reuters as saying that building a standalone pipeline for Kenya had made the company more dependent on its own resources for “justifying and financing the pipeline”.
About one well a month would be drilled, said Hill, pointing out that the full-scale projection required an 890-km pipeline at a cost of around $2.1 billion.
The Kenyan government said last month it aimed to sign a joint development deal for the pipeline soon.
