PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Kenya: Kenyatta, Museveni discuss oil pipeline
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - President Uhuru Kenyatta is holding talks with his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni on the construction of the Kenya-Uganda oil pipeline, Statehouse Spokesman Manoah Esipisu has said.
Esipisu said that Uganda’s oil producers – Irish company Tullow Oil, French company Total and China’s CNOC – have also been invited to the meeting, which would be held at State House, Nairobi, on Monday. The talks are a key factor in the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Projects, he said.
“The pipeline project was designed to move crude oil from the oilfields of Hoima to the Port of Lamu, through Kenya’s own oilfields at Lokichar,” he said.
In a communiqué issued after President Kenyatta’s state visit to Uganda last August, the two leaders said the development of a crude oil export pipeline needed to be implemented expeditiously.
The statement indicated that the move was meant to ensure there was no delay in commercializing especially Uganda’s petroleum resources which were discovered nine years ago.
In the construction of the pipeline, Kenya favours the “northern route” through Lokichar, because as part of the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project, it would transform infrastructure and the way of life of the people in the towns and countries in its path.
Kenya and Uganda are members of the six-member regional economic bloc, the East African Community. Other members are Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
-0- PANA DJ/MA 21March2016
Esipisu said that Uganda’s oil producers – Irish company Tullow Oil, French company Total and China’s CNOC – have also been invited to the meeting, which would be held at State House, Nairobi, on Monday. The talks are a key factor in the Northern Corridor Infrastructure Projects, he said.
“The pipeline project was designed to move crude oil from the oilfields of Hoima to the Port of Lamu, through Kenya’s own oilfields at Lokichar,” he said.
In a communiqué issued after President Kenyatta’s state visit to Uganda last August, the two leaders said the development of a crude oil export pipeline needed to be implemented expeditiously.
The statement indicated that the move was meant to ensure there was no delay in commercializing especially Uganda’s petroleum resources which were discovered nine years ago.
In the construction of the pipeline, Kenya favours the “northern route” through Lokichar, because as part of the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) project, it would transform infrastructure and the way of life of the people in the towns and countries in its path.
Kenya and Uganda are members of the six-member regional economic bloc, the East African Community. Other members are Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.
-0- PANA DJ/MA 21March2016
