NAIROBI: Kenya
exported its first-ever batch of crude oil yesterday, 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," Kenyatta said at the ceremony. "The first export of crude
oil by our nation, therefore, marks a special moment in our history as a people
and as a country."

The maiden
shipment was purchased for $12 million by Chinese trading company ChemChina for
export to Malaysia. 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. This field was discovered in the South Lokichar Basin in Turkana,
in Kenya's far north, by British firm Tullow and its joint venture partners.
The company estimates the field holds 560 million barrels of oil.

In early June
2018, the company began shipping crude from Turkana to Mombasa by road. It will
eventually be shipped via a pipeline under construction. 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. - AFP