Kenya is smelling petrodollars. The EastAfrican can authoritatively report that in two weeks, the country is expecting to join the league of oil producers on the continent.

Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi was bubbling with optimism when he told this newspaper on Thursday, “In a matter of days, we could be celebrating. God willing, I shall be announcing a historical discovery at the end of the month.”

Christmas will indeed come early should the drilling of a five-kilometre deep well in Isiolo by a Chinese firm, set to begin next week on October 28, strike oil.

And this time around, unlike as with past attempts that ended in disappointment after sinking billions into empty wells, Mr Murungi insisted, “We have done our homework and all indications are that Kenya will join Uganda in celebrating the status of a new oil producer.

“We can’t tell the size of the deposits we have yet, and there is a remote possibility that they may not be sufficient to qualify for commercial drilling, but that too will be known at the end of the month,” he said.

He added that he was convinced the seismic trials undertaken over the past two years are not lying.

Kenya’s optimism is informed by the geographical location of the prospective deposits — “not too far” from oil-rich Southern Sudan, whose deposits, according to the Ministry of Energy, extend into the neighbouring areas of Kenya, and also feed Uganda’s newly discovered deposits, which are found even under Lake Victoria.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation will start drilling for oil at Block 9, Bogal 1-1, near Isiolo in northern Kenya next week.

The company is expected to spend up to $20 million to drill the Bogal 1-1 well.

Over the past three years, the company has invested about $15 million to gather data and analyse it.

“The Anza basin well will be the deepest ever drilled in Kenya,” Mr Murungi said.

The company is also licensed to explore oil deposits in the Lamu basin.

To cement Kenya’s new status, the country is moving to join hands with international organisations to put in place prudent management systems for its envisaged oil wealth.

It is among the first supporters of the formation of a South-South Energy Fund that was proposed in a meeting held in Nairobi last Monday.

The fund’s mandate will be to train high-level energy experts such as reservoir engineers, petroleum economists, geoscientists and petroleum lawyers.

It will be managed by a secretariat based at the United Nations Development Fund in the country’s capital.

The personnel to be trained will be placed in selected universities around the world.

“(We) resolved to set up a South-South Energy Fund with a secretariat managed by UNDP in Nairobi,” Mr Murungi said, adding that Kenya is vying for the position of secretary general of the fund.

Kenya and Liberia have each pledged to contribute $100,000 as seed capital to fund the secretariat’s establishment. The UNDP has pledged $1 million.

Addressing the Second South-South High-Level Meeting on Oil and Gas Management at the United Nations headquarters in Nairobi, Mr Murungi said: “We in Kenya would like to manage our oil and gas resources in a manner that promises maximum benefit to our people, and to modernise our physical and social infrastructure.”

He invited petroleum exploration companies to apply for the remaining 14 blocks.

“We believe there is plenty of oil and gas in Kenya and we are confident that we shall make commercial discoveries.”

The minister said: “With discoveries in Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, we believe that Kenya is now on the threshold, too. It is only a matter of time.”

“Africa’s economic salvation lies in its vast oil and gas reserves. As is evident in the Middle East, where oil and gas have transformed barren desert economies, well-managed oil and gas resources can be principal agents of socio-economic transformation in Africa. Accelerated development of Africa’s upstream industry is our quickest route out of poverty,” Mr Murungi said.

Out of the 30 investigative wells drilled in Kenya, 19 have shown traces of hydrocarbons, though none are in commercial production.

The country has signed 17 production-sharing agreements over the past 18 months, and there are 14 blocks available for oil and gas exploration.

In another planned investment in the industry, Origin Energy Ltd, an Australian company, aims to start gathering data for an exploratory study in the Indian Ocean near Malindi.

Mr Murungi struck a note of caution as well, saying: “There are those who see oil as evil. Oil extraction in Africa has been associated with dictatorship, tyranny, imperialism, exploitation, neglect of agriculture, corruption and abuse of human rights... Hence the question: ‘Is oil a blessing or a curse in Africa?’”

Meanwhile, Mr Murungi has been listed to present a keynote address at the 16th Africa Annual Oil Week to be held from November 4-6 in Cape Town, South Africa.