The drilling rig to be used in the South Lokichar commercial oil project has arrived at the port of Mombasa, moving the country closer to becoming an oil exporter.
On Friday, Gulf Energy E&P BV SEZ, the firm tasked with undertaking the commercial oil production, confirmed the arrival of the rig, setting the stage for its trucking to South Lokichar ahead as Kenya’s target to beat the December 2026 deadline for the first commercial production of oil.
The GW70 rig, valued at more than $20 million (Sh2.59 billion at current exchange rates) has been leased from Great Wall Drilling Company (GWDC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on a long-term arrangement.
Gulf Energy, which bought the oil project from Tullow Kenya BV in a $120 million (Sh15.56 billion) deal, plans to start drilling the oil at Block T6 and Block T7 in South Lokichar on November 1, 2026.
“All workstreams at Gulf Energy E&P BV SEZ are running on a tight project management schedule, and the project remains on course for First Oil production in December 2026,” Gulf Energy CEO Paul Limoh said in a statement.
The company is targeting to produce 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in the first phase of the project (2026-2032) before increasing this to 50,000 bpd in the next phase that starts from 2033.
Start of the commercial production will end a 14-year wait that Kenya endured as Tullow struggled to find deep-pocketed investors to derisk the project.
Tullow discovered the commercially viable oil in South Lokichar in 2012 but the inability to secure a strategic partner and rejection of its Field Development Plan (FDP) derailed the project.
The British-owned oil exploration firm then fully sold the project to Gulf Energy in September 2025. Gulf Energy agreed to pay three instalments of $40 million (Sh5.18 billion) with the last payment due on or before June 10, 2033.
The company secured approval for its FDP early this year, clearing the path for the firm to step up production plans of the valuable commodity in Turkana County.
Successful start of oil production at the South Lokichar wells will see Kenya become the third East African country to commercially export crude oil after Uganda and South Sudan.
Uganda is also targeting to start commercial oil production in its Albertine region in the western part of the country. Output from the wells are projected to peak at 230,000 bpd and give the country an estimated $388 million in revenues by the end of 2027.
South Sudan started commercial oil production in 2021 but the production has been marred by armed conflict.
