Posted on :Monday , 15th August 2016

Kenya is set to join the ranks of oil producing nations after its government approved plans to extract up to 4,000 barrels per day from newly discovered reserves.

African multinational oil and gas company Tullow Oil discovered crude deposits in the country's Turkana region in 2012 and is partnering with the country as it readies for full commercial exploration, CNBC reported.

Tullow Oil estimated that a pilot scheme will allow 2,000 barrels of oil to be produced by the middle of 2017. But the Kenyan government has put initial extraction levels between 2,000 and 4,000 barrels per day.

As part of the plan, the government is promising an upgrade to infrastructure, allowing trains and trucks to ferry the oil from the country's northwest region to the main port in Mombasa.

The Cabinet also approved the development of a new Kenya crude pipeline, running from the exploration fields north to Lamu where Kenya is building a second port for crude exports in the future.