Staff killed, another hurt in Turkana oil field blast
Tullow Oil facility at Ngamia 8 in Lokichar, Turkana County, on February 18, 2020.
A contractor working at a site within the Turkana oil fields was killed in an accident last year and another injured, the joint venture partners in the project have revealed.
The Turkana oil project is being developed by the British explorer, Tullow Oil, and its joint venture partners TotalEnergies and Africa Oil.
The May 30, 2022 accident occurred as contracted workers were disposing of expired explosives used in exploration, leaving two seriously injured. One of the injured workers later succumbed to his injuries.
“A serious incident occurred on May 30, 2022, at the site of the company’s upstream assets and associated facilities in Kenya. During an operation to dispose of expired explosives, an uncontrolled explosion occurred, resulting in the injury of two persons involved in the exercise. One of the people later died of his wounds,” Africa Oil said in a new disclosure for the year ended December 31,2022.
“The other injured party was evacuated to Nairobi for medical treatment and has since recovered fully. Africa Oil and our partners in project oil Kenya have since paid appropriate compensation to the injured party and the family of the deceased,” the Canadian firm added.
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Tullow confirmed the incident in a separate disclosure, saying appropriate measures have been taken to avoid a repeat of such a mishap.
“We deeply regret that there was a contractor fatality during a planned operation to dispose of expired explosives at a monitored site in Kenya. Tullow Kenya fully investigated the incident with our Joint Venture partners and has implemented measures to prevent recurrence,” it said.
Following the incident, all non-routine activities at the project site were put on hold while the partners took corrective actions.
“Specifically, the JV issued a new control of work procedure and incident response plan and delivered incidence response training to the field staff, including a mock drill. The JV also engaged full-time on-site medical support and arranged medical evacuation for all POK (project oil Kenya) staff so that should an incident occur, emergency airlift can be dispatched more quickly,” Africa Oil said.
Tullow Oil and its joint venture partners last month submitted a revised field development plan (FDP) to the government for approval as the venture steps up its search for a strategic investor.
The approval of the FDP—which will need to be ratified by Parliament — will enable the venture to get a government licence to start commercial drilling in the 10BB and 13T oil blocks in Turkana.
“Since January 1, 2022, there have been ongoing discussions with the government of Kenya on approval of the FDP and securing government deliverables,” said Tullow.
