According to Star on May 6th, Kenyan Energy Minister Opiyo Wandayi stated in the National Assembly on Wednesday that the country will achieve its first commercial oil production by the end of this year; The initial daily production of the South Loki Char oil field in Turkana Province is expected to be around 20000 barrels, and will gradually increase to 50000 barrels in the future. Wanda Yi stated that Kenya has completed key preliminary preparations and is gradually transitioning from pilot production to full-scale commercial production, which is an important milestone in Kenya's energy sector. However, the current production scale still cannot meet the minimum requirements to support the operation of domestic refineries, and any investment in refining infrastructure must be based on economic feasibility. He explained that previous plans to revive or build new refineries have been put on hold because feasibility assessments have shown that such investments are not economically feasible at current production levels. Due to current economic conditions, the Mombasa refinery has been deemed commercially unfeasible, "he said. According to Wanda Yi's introduction, petroleum economists have calculated that in order for refineries to achieve sustainable operation, they need 100000 to 500000 barrels of crude oil supply per day, which is much higher than the expected output in the early stages of Kenya's oil production.
