Kenya targets to hold her first ever auction of petroleum exploration licences in 2017 as the country moves to exploit its natural sources of energy.

The revelation came as the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock) invited bids from contractors to gather comprehensive data on several shallow blocks off Lamu to help attract exploration firms ahead of the anticipated auction of exploration rights.

“The multi-client surveys and studies are part of the preparation of an open licensing round tentatively scheduled for the year 2017. A formal announcement on the date from the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum is expected soon” Nock chief executive Sumayya Hassan-Athman said.

The Energy and Petroleum ministry has published the Petroleum Bill 2015 which proposes that oil blocks only be allocated after bidding, a departure from the current law that permits the minister in charge of petroleum to allocate the blocks. The auction system will see investors compete for oil blocks with the exploration licence awarded to the firm offering the best deal.

The CEO said the planned comprehensive 3-D surveys on the Lamu blocks would boost the country’s off-shore exploration that still lags behind Tanzania and Mozambique which have struck huge deposits of gas.

“During the past exploration work in the Kenya offshore area, seismic surveys have been dominated by 2-D data acquisition. 3-D data has been acquired in only a few blocks. The intention of National Oil and the ministry is to increase the amount of 3-D data coverage so as to better image drillable structures and accelerate exploration through drilling in the earliest phases of exploration” said Ms Hassan-Athman.

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Ready and comprehensive exploration data is considered attractive among investors because it lowers the initial capital required.

“This strategy coincides with the recent world-class successes encountered offshore East Africa and the growing interest in the region. Kenya, which has not witnessed similar success in the offshore area, is keen to attract and accelerate exploration in the area while ensuring the cost of investment in the country are comparatively low, fair and conducted on a competitive basis,” she further said.

The CEO said Nock would take advantage of the current slump in exploration due to low global oil prices to expedite the 3-D surveys off Lamu coast.

“The current low price environment whereby exploration spending by many companies has been significantly reduced and the market for the utilisation survey vessels is in a slump creates an ideal opportunity to spend the next one-half years putting together a series of multi-client survey and studies that will help de-risk the open acreage.”

Oil prices have fallen almost 60 per cent since June 2014 on the back of the largest global surplus in modern times and concerns about a slowing Chinese economy. This has forced explorers to cut their operations due to uncertainty.

Kenya and Uganda said in August they had reached a final decision on the route for a crude pipeline linking their newly found oilfields to the Kenyan coast.