From The Star

Tullow Oil’s suspension of drilling in Kenya after weekend protests shows that popular impatience for a share of the spoils is compounding the problems energy firms face building an oil and gas industry from scratch in east Africa.

Backed by local politicians, demonstrators from Kenya’s poor, northern Turkana community marched on Tullow sites demanding jobs and other benefits, prompting one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s most experienced oil explorers to “temporarily” halt work.

That is a blow to Kenya’s government, determined to show it has security under control following last month’s attack by Islamist militants on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, in which at least 67 people were killed.

Investors’ confidence was another casualty.

While east Africa is a hot new province for oil and gas exploration, excitement has been tempered by wrangles with governments, gaps in regulations and rickety infrastructure.

Local populations are understandably anxious for a windfall, but production may be years away, and such direct action is only likely to slow the region’s emergence as a significant producer.

“There are numerous potential risks on exploration projects in poor, remote areas,” said Tom Savory at consultancy Africa Practice. “Navigating local politics can be just as much of a challenge as navigating national politics.”

London-listed Tullow, which has a track record of delivering projects elsewhere in Africa, said it was working with the Kenyan government, local authorities and communities in the area to resume work as soon as possible.

Grievances in the local community erupted into protests around at least two of its drilling sites, demanding more jobs and contracts.

Tullow says more than 800 of its 1,400 employees in its Kenya operations are from the Turkana region.

“We welcome them (Tullow) to Turkana. But we want to start benefiting as early as possible,” said James Lomenen, a regional member of parliament who joined the protest at Twiga South-1 site. He said he saw workers evacuated from the site.

Read more at thestar.com