Kenya: Lamu Oil Drilling Ship Safe From Somalia War
The offshore oil drilling ship stationed in the Indian Ocean off Lamu, MV Chyuku is safe from the spill over of violence in neighbouring Somalia.
The assurance was made by Woodside Energy Kenya General Manager, Mr Alex Taylor.
“Everything is fine, and work is going on,” Taylor told The Standard on telephone, when asked whether the vessel was secure following break out of fighting in Somali.
US aircraft on Tuesday last week launched attacks against suspected Al Qaeda members said to be holed up near Kismayo port in Somalia.
Reports indicated that two helicopters had fired several rockets towards a village near the Kenyan border and there were several fatalities.
An aircraft carrier, USS Dwight D Eisenhower arrived off the Somali Coast and launched intelligence-gathering missions over Somalia.
Energy minister Mr Kiraitu Murungi is set to make a site visit to the ship in Lamu that is carrying out drilling exploration off the Kenyan Coast in Lamu.
The Minister will be flown to the site, which is 300km from Mombasa aboard special designed helicopters stationed at the Moi International Airport, Mombasa.
Woodside Energy officials would not however divulge details of any progress on the drilling made so far. Woodside Energy has a 30 per cent stake in the consortium, which is drilling on two prospective blocks off Lamu.
The other three firms are Dana Petroleum, which is controlling 30 per cent, Repsol YPF with 20 per cent and Global Petroleum Energy, also holding 20 per cent.
The drilling, which is expected to last for 40 days after which findings would be subjected to analysis before being forwarded to the Government, will costing the joint consortium Sh7 billion ($ 100 million).
Each of the wells costs about Sh4.9 billion to drill.
