Tullow now says 57pc of employees are from Turkana region
Oil exploration in Ngamia 1 in Turkana County. On Monday, the oil explorer said 800 of its 1,400 employees are from the Turkana region adding that it hoped the stalemate would be resolved soon for drilling operations to resume. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
Tullow Oil, which at the weekend suspended all drilling operations in the country, has hit back at critics of its employment policy saying they have sourced over half of its employees from the Turkana region.
On Monday, the oil explorer said 800 of its 1,400 employees are from the Turkana region adding that it hoped the stalemate would be resolved soon for drilling operations to resume.
Tullow Oil, which at the weekend suspended all drilling operations in the country, has hit back at critics of its employment policy saying they have sourced over half of its employees from the Turkana region.
The oil explorer, which end last month announced it had made a fourth oil discovery at Ekales-1 well, on Saturday halted operations following public protests with area residents demanding more jobs.
In a statement on Monday, Tullow said 800 of its 1,400 employees are from the Turkana region adding that it hoped the stalemate would be resolved soon for drilling operations to resume.
On Saturday, hundreds of Turkana South and Turkana East residents led by their MPs blocked all roads leading to Block 10BB and Block 13T drilling sites – forcing Tullow to suspend all operations.
“The Company (Tullow) is fully committed to utilising as many local workers and local services as possible and currently employs over 800 people from the Turkana region out of the 1,400 people currently employed on Tullow’s Kenyan operations,” Tullow said in a statement.
“Tullow takes its relationships with the local communities extremely seriously and the decision to suspend exploration and appraisal operations was taken to prevent further escalation of the demonstrations while discussions to resolve this issue for the long term are on-going.”
Tullow has operations on five blocks including 10A, 10BA, 10BB, 13T, 12A and 12B. It is also a non-operated partner in off-shore block L8 where American oil exploration company Apache Corporation is the operator.
Tullow’s exploration successes in Northern Kenya have not only been met with positivity by Kenyans, but have also raised the country’s profile as a viable investment destination.
