Uhuru, Museveni fail to reach agreement over oil pipeline
President Uhuru Kenyatta with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on his arrival at State House Nairobi on March 21, 2015. PHOTO | PSCU
What you need to know:
The two Heads of State only listened to technical presentations on the viability of three possible routes with another meeting to be held in Kampala in two weeks.
Kenya will have to wait two more weeks to know if it will wrest back the Uganda oil pipeline from passing through Tanzania after a meeting between Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni ended without a decision.
A statement by Energy Secretary Charles Keter said that the two Heads of State only listened to technical presentations on the viability of three possible routes with another meeting to be held in Kampala in two weeks.
Originally, the crude pipeline running from Hoima oil fields in Uganda was to run through northern Kenya to Lamu Port but Tanzania has recently become a favourite for the project as security concerns linger over northern Kenya.
The viability of these two routes was evaluated in Monday’s meeting as well as a third southern Kenya route running through Nakuru and Nairobi to Mombasa Port.
“The two leaders agreed to meet after two weeks in Kampala to allow their technical officials to harmonise their presentations,” Mr Keter said.
Among the issues to be considered by the technical teams include which route is more cost effective, the terrain, the current proven reserves which will have an impact on the size of the pipeline and viability of Lamu, Mombasa and Tanga ports as export options.
Tanzania has in recent weeks moved ahead of Kenya with Tanzanian President John Magufuli announcing earlier this month they had reached a decision with Uganda to build the US$4 billion (Sh400 billion) pipeline through the country.
Kenya, which has about 600 million barrels of proven oil reserves around Turkana, is keen on the northern Kenya route which would see it spend little to build a link with the Uganda pipeline.
The southern route would mean that a link to Eldoret would be longer and cost more.
