Kenya has suspended its early oil pilot scheme until Parliament passes the Petroleum Bill.
Kenya's Ministry of Energy has suspended a project that would have marked the first milestone in the country's nascent oil and gas industry.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter on Thursday blamed the suspension of the Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS) on Parliament's delay in passage of the Petroleum Bill.
“After consultation with stakeholders in the country, we will do it by the end of the year,” Mr Keter told journalists on Thursday.
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Banditry
This came as cases of banditry and other forms of insecurity continued to be reported in Turkana in northern Kenya where exploration activities have been in high gear.
The government had set June 31 deadline, when the first batch of oil would leave Kenya but that will now only be possible after the August General Election.
Mr Keter said the government had to wait until the Senate passed the Bill that stipulates how the national and county governments, as well as local community would share oil revenues.
The suspension also belies the ongoing tension between the local community and Tullow Oil, the British company tasked with oil drilling.
Tullow oil had already drilled 40,000 barrels for transport to Mombasa at the Coast, but bandit attacks have frustrated that plan.
State of insecurity
The companies that are constructing the key Kitale-Turkana road, which was to be used to ferry the oil, have also reported attacks on their employees.
Construction works have been suspended in some parts, reports indicate.
But Mr Keter on Thursday sought to downplay the state of insecurity in the expansive county that is the size of Rwanda.
“Insecurity has nothing to do with what Tullow Oil has been doing in Turkana,” he said.
“Insecurity happens everywhere. There have been incidences of insecurity in the area even before drilling started.”
*Story has been updated