Kenya delays signing LNG agreement with Qatar

Qatar

DOHA, February 18, 2015 – Kenya is delaying the signing of a 1-million-tonnes-per-year LNG agreement with Qatar, owing to a gas discovery in onshore block 9 pegged at 51 bcm (1.8 tcf). The agreement would have seen the LNG fire a planned 700-MW power plant in Mombasa.

Before committing to Qatari imports, Kenya is looking to optimise the gas found in the middle of 2014 by Canadian oil and gas company Africa Oil Corporation at the Sala-1 well in block 9, located in the northeast of the country. The block is owned by the Africa Oil Corporation and US-based Marathon Oil Corporation, each with a 50-percent stake.

“We have to be careful not to rush. You do not want to commit yourself say for 10 years and find your own gas can not find a market,” Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir was reported as saying. “The plan is to transform the natural gas Africa Oil and Marathon Oil Corporation discovered to power in the next nine to 15 months to add an additional 200-500 MW to the national grid.”

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