Kenya offers 46 oil blocks to Nigerians

Kenya has offered interested Nigerians its 46 newly-discovered oil blocks for development.

Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke broke the news at the weekend in Nairobi, Kenya when addressing reporters.

According to her, the offer was part of the outcome of the dialogue preceding the Nigeria-Kenya Investment Forum held on Friday in Kenya.

Besides the offer of oil wells, Kenya also sought Nigeria’s assistance in the formulation of

right policies and framework to manage the sector.

The minister said: “It is well-known that Kenya recently discovered hydo-carbon reserves and is keen to move aggressively in terms of exploration activities.

“The Kenyans feel that as a sister African country, Nigeria, having many years of oil exploration and production, it only makes sense that we exchange agreement in cooperation to hand over knowledge, capabilities and experience learnt.

“They seek the templates we have formulated, including policies, processes and a sort of templates that form the Petroleum Industry Bill, among others.”

She went on: “We also looked at the areas surrounding Nigeria’s investments possibilities where we think Nigerian businessmen and women could come into the oil and gas sector in Kenya.

“They are very keen that Nigerian operators in the upstream, midstream and downstream service sectors of the oil and gas industry look to Kenya as a burgeoning frontier for investments in the oil and gas sector.

“They are also very keen that we support them in setting up the right framework, policies and processes and technology to help them drive the exploration activities.”

Among the seven Memoranda of Understanding and Bilateral Agreements signed by both countries, she said, included oil and gas, which spelt out details of the co-operations.

The CEO of Forte Oil and Zenon Oil, Mr. Femi Otedola, Chairman of Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko, prominent bankers and investors, Jim Ovia and Tony Elumelu, were in the Nigerian delegation to the forum.