A KK Security fire fighting truck. The regional security company inked partnership deals with international firms including Kiron Global to train its mining staff, Unity Resources for offshore security and Allterrain Services (remote accommodation and logistics) to give it a foothold in eastern Africa oil and gas market. Photo/FILE
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Currently, many of the experts involved in the exploration activities are being shipped in from abroad because of a lack of the necessary skilled manpower locally.
KK Security is seeking a piece of Kenya’s oil exploration business by offering specialised services to mining companies on remote sites in a bid to diversify its income streams.
The services include offshore security, accommodation, and logistics as well as training and leasing specialised workers on oil drilling and extraction.
The regional security company inked partnership deals with international firms including Kiron Global to train its mining staff, Unity Resources for offshore security and Allterrain Services (remote accommodation and logistics) to give it a foothold in eastern Africa oil and gas market.
The company is targeting foreign interest in petroleum blocks that has surged since British explorer Tullow Oil announced Kenya’s first oil discovery in March.
The find is one in a series of major oil and gas discoveries in East Africa that have made the region more attractive to explorers.
Most of these blocks are located in remote areas and KK Security is looking to offer the services that also include waste management and laundry besides providing safety training, protection of executives and guarding exploration installations.
“We are looking at the oil and gas market as the next frontier for growth for KK Security since it is going to be huge,” said Adam Miller, commercial director at KK Security.
“This will help transform the company by cutting the share of revenues from guarding services to 30 per cent from the current 60 in three years. I was recruited to execute this target,” added Mr Miller who joined KK in June after serving as regional managing director of rival company G4S East Africa.
Kenya has five unlicensed blocks remaining of 46 oil and gas exploration sites as major energy companies race to sign exploration deals. These firms include France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and US majors Anadarko and Apache.
Smaller players such as Cove, Origin Oil, Pancontinental and Lion Energy, who had dominated Kenya’s prospecting scene for years, have been quietly exiting in recognition of the change in the balance of power in favour of big players who have started drilling.
The establishment of local bases by the foreign firms is boosting the outlook of service providers eyeing the oil and mineral sectors like KK Security, that will compete with companies like Lonrho owned Afex, which also offers oil firms accommodation and logistic services.
But the oil giants face a shortage of specialised staff in the fields of drilling and extraction, a gap that KK Security seeks bridge in partnership with US based Kiron Global Strategies.
It also plans to offer training in the oil sector tailored for engineers, technicians and artisans and employ the experts to provide specialised services to the oil and gas exploration companies.
Currently, many of the experts involved in the exploration activities are being shipped in from abroad because of a lack of the necessary skilled manpower locally.
“Security accounts for about 10 per cent of offshore drilling cost and this presents a huge market for us,” said Mr Miller, adding that the firm would tap this market in partnership with Unity Resources to offer maritime security. [email protected]
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