Kenya’s long-stalled Turkana oil dream has a new driver. Gulf Energy Ltd., a Nairobi-based trader, plans to start producing crude from the South Lokichar Basin by the end of 2026—nearly fifteen years after Tullow Oil’s original discovery.
Tullow sold its long-delayed Turkana project to Gulf Energy in April for $120 million, finally bowing out after years of trying — and failing — to get the oil out of the ground. Tullow’s partners, TotalEnergies and Africa Oil, had already walked away the year before when financing for the multi-billion-dollar plan fell apart, leaving Tullow holding the bag on a project it could no longer afford to carry. The British explorer’s field development plan was later rejected by Kenya’s energy ministry for lack of capital backing, effectively forcing its exit.
Gulf Energy’s field plan has cleared the Energy Ministry and now heads to Parliament for final approval, according to Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi. If it passes, drilling could start soon after, with first oil targeted for December 2026.
The South Lokichar project holds an estimated 560 million barrels recoverable, with early production expected in the 60,000–100,000 barrel-per-day range. A future 895-kilometer export pipeline to Lamu remains on the table, but early cargoes could once again be trucked to Mombasa, echoing Tullow’s pilot exports in 2019.
For Kenya, the hand-off from a debt-burdened multinational to a domestic player marks a rare second chance to establish itself as an oil producer. The government has sweetened the investment climate with tax breaks and new exploration rounds for 10 blocks.
If Gulf delivers on schedule, Kenya could finally join Uganda and South Sudan as East Africa’s oil producers—transforming a project once written off as too remote, too expensive, and too cursed by bad timing into the nation’s first real test of homegrown energy ambition.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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