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Vol 66 No 14

Published 11th July 2025


Kenya

How Turkana’s promises of oil riches became a pipe dream

The oil companies arrived with pledges of roads, schools and clean water. Instead there has been negligible production but lots of environmental damage

More than 15 years have passed since British-based Tullow Oil came to the remote plains of northern Kenya, raising expectations of transformation. Once oil was confirmed, it was meant to bring roads, electricity, clean water, phone networks, hospitals and schools – a new era for Turkana County. Instead, while reserves of 460 million barrels have been announced, production has barely begun. The state has earned just US$2 million in crude oil royalties, and the region around the town of Lokichar bears the scars of heavy environmental damage.

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