EA oil and gas sector in dire need of infrastructure

November 02:

Offshore exploration has increased exponentially over the past five years but East Africa will first need to secure financing to develop infrastructure if it is to gain momentum, the Standard Bank Group said on Wednesday.
Standard’s director of oil and gas Charlie Houston said Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania will need $50 billion to $75 billion in energy investments over the next five to seven years.
Mr Houston said crude oil and natural gas resources will require associated infrastructure like export pipelines, refineries and LNG facilities on a continent that lags behind with regard to energy access.
“Development of oil and gas across East Africa will be staggered over  time. The success of initial development will drive further investment as  recoverable resources increase with further exploration and appraisal,” he said.
Tullow Oil and Africa Oil Corporation have discovered 600 million barrels of crude oil in South Lokichar basin in northwestern Kenya. Oil resources in the Albertine basin in western Uganda were revised upwards in August by the government to 6.5 billion barrels after further appraisal work.
Mr Houston said the immediate challenge is for stakeholders to agree on the commercial ownership structure of the pipeline to the Kenyan Coast, from where crude will be shipped to export markets.
“Without this agreement and the pipeline, the vast bulk of the  discovered reserves cannot be monetised and will not attract the  necessary investment from the international investor base,” he said.


Kenya and Uganda are next year set to jointly start building next year a $4 billion crude oil export pipeline running 
1,300 kilometres from Hoima  in Uganda to Lamu in Kenya. Completion of the line is expected in 2018.
Source: www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/EA-oil-and-gas-sector-in-dire-need-of-infrastructure-/-/2558/2507610/-/fldi2m/-/index.html?

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