Kenya to import 500,000 barrels of Sudanese crude oil each month

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 2, 2009 (UPI)
Kenya to buy Sudanese oil

Kenya Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi has visited Sudan "to fine tune oil deal."

The Daily Nation reported Friday that Murungi had led a delegation to Khartoum to finalize an initial Kenyan-Sudanese agreement for Kenya to import Sudanese oil.

In August 2008 Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula and Sudan's Foreign Affairs Minister Deng Alor Kuol signed a memorandum of understanding providing for Kenya to import 500,000 barrels of Sudanese crude oil each month. The pact stipulated that Kenya's National Oil Corp. and Sudan Petroleum Corp. conclude a second agreement implementing the arrangement. NOCK Managing Director Mwendia Nyaga and Patrick Nyoike are accompanying Wetangula.

Nyoike told journalists that while the importation deal with Sudan was to be implemented, Mombasa's oil refineries were unable to process the Sudanese oil, noting, "It is true that Sudan's oil cannot be processed at our local refinery, but arrangements can be made for swapping it in the international markets."