Regional energy experts meet

• They are to explore petroleum potential and investment prospects in E.Africa

East Africa partner states are this week congregating in Mombasa for an energy conference, with oil and gas exploration taking centre stage at the three-day workshop.

The conference will take place between Wednesday and Friday, where local petroleum experts will join their peers from Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, to explore petroleum potential and investment opportunities in the region.

Flock to Mombasa

This is the second time Kenya will host the conference since 2003, with 600 delegates drawn from international and national oil companies, petroleum firms, Government representatives and Geo-science institutions, expected to flock to Mombasa Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort.

President Mwai Kibaki will officially open the function on Wednesday.

Even as the five East African countries jointly promote and market the sector to potential petroleum industry investors, their governments must demonstrate more interest in the largely under-explored industry.

“The onshore and offshore sedimentary basins of the States have similar geology, with huge potential for untapped oil and gas accumulations. This potential needs to be fully evaluated through concerted efforts of all stakeholders,” said Energy minister, Kiraitu Murungi in a press statement.

Among the critical aspects up for debate are natural gas development, petroleum revenues management, East Africa Rift Basin systems and onshore and off shore opportunities regionally.

Policy issues like the existing legal framework and fiscal regimes that govern regional petroleum operations will also be discussed.

High potential

So far, the potential of energy prospects regionally have come under internal spotlight as prospects increase.

“The EA region has high potential for hydro carbons as indicated by recent gas and oil discoveries in Tanzania and Uganda respectively,” states the conference’s final circular.

In Kenya, the oil and gas exploration is active both onshore and offshore with the Government having signed Production Sharing Contracts with international oil companies for 19 out of the country’s 38 acreage blocks.

Rwandan prospects are notable given the country’s estimates that methane gas potential at Lake Kivu is equivalent to 40 million tonnes of oil and can generate energy for a 700 megawatts power plant running for 50 years, assuming an extraction rate of a billion cubic meters of methane per year.

Fully exploited

If fully exploited, Rwanda has the potential to export energy to other African States. Already, Burundi has began exploration on Lake Tanganyika basins.