The Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) has engaged the services of consultants to review British oil explorer Tullow’s commercialisation plan for the Turkana oil fields, pushing the date of final decision on the project into the first quarter of next year.
Tullow presented its revised Field Development Plan (FDP) to the State in March, with Epra initially saying that a decision on the same would be ready by June. The Ministry of Energy later pushed the decision date to September.
An FDP outlines how an oil company intends to develop a petroleum field, manage the impact on the environment and society, as well as giving forecasts for production and costs.
“Epra, the regulator, has recently engaged third party consultants to review the revised FDP and extended the review period to quarter one of 2024. The group expects a production licence to be granted once government due process has been completed,” said the company in its half-year financial brief.
Tullow and its former joint venture partners— Africa Oil Corp and TotalEnergies—had initially been given a deadline of December 2021 to present the comprehensive investment plan for oil production in Turkana or risk losing concession on the exploration fields. They successfully sought an extension to the deadline.
TotalEnergies and Africa Oil, who held a 25 percent stake each in the project that comprises blocks 10BA, 10BB and 13T in South Lokichar, said in May that they were exiting the project due to "differing internal strategic reasons" leaving Tullow as the sole owner.
Africa Oil said it was shifting focus to other projects across the continent that are more economically viable while Total had been exploring ways of monetising its stake in the Turkana oil project.
