An oil rig at Ngamia 1 block in Turkana owned by Tullow Oil. PHOTO | FILE
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Camac Energy said that it would stop the seismic survey, whose data is used to point out the best drilling sites, even though Nema, the Kenya Forest Services and KWS had cleared the firm.
Exploration firms are dealing with objections from local communities which are concerned that their operations are harmful to the environment.
Camac Energy, a Houston based oil explorer, has suspended carrying out seismic surveys in Lamu after concerns were raised over the effect of the operations on the Arabuko-Sokoke forest in the area.
The firm said that it would stop the seismic survey, whose data is used to point out the best drilling sites, even though the National Environment Management Authority, the Kenya Forest Services and Kenya Wildlife Services had cleared the firm.
“We have made this decision in spite of the fact that we have complied with all recommendations and government requirements and also believe that the acquisition would not have had an adverse effect on the sensitive ecosystem in the forest.
“However, because of the concerns raised we will not acquire the two seismic lines within the forest as previously planned,” said Camac Energy Kenya managing director Augustin Nkuba in a statement.
Block L1B in Garissa is another offshore block where the explorer has an interest. Camac also has interests in two onshore blocks, L27 and L28, which are both in the Lamu basin.
Exploration firms are dealing with objections from local communities which are concerned that their operations are harmful to the environment.
The High Court has temporarily stopped Taipan Resources, a Canadian firm, from working on Block 2B located in Wajir County after the Ajuran, a pastoralist community, told the court that Taipan’s oil exploration had limited its movement in the Badada area where the block is located.
The firm has, however, said that it expects the matter to be solved early enough not to derail it from drilling which is expected to happen in January next year.
“Based on legal advice received, the Block 2B partners are confident that the injunction will be revoked such that the company can progress to its projected spud of the Badada-1 well in January 2015,” said Taipan in a statement.
Employment is another issue which has been a bone of contention between oil companies and locals.
Tullow Oil said that it had invested in staff whose work is to engage with local communities as a way of minimising conflicts with locals.
“A robust community engagement strategy that encourages participatory engagement is a priority for Tullow and we utilise a range of methods to engage our neighbouring communities among other key stakeholders,” Tullow told the Business Daily in a statement.
Tullow, along with its partners, has discovered oil in Block 10BB and 13T. So far, 600 million barrels of oil have been confirmed and declared to have met the threshold for commercial production.
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