Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 664633,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/664633/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 261,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "in accordance with the petroleum agreement and regulations made under this Act. That is provision of information and reporting which never used to exit in the previous law. Clause 77 deals with local content training. Again, this is a major point of departure and a paradigm shift in the way we manage and govern our petroleum resources in this country. There is a duty on contractors to ensure they comply with local content requirements in all that may be in place from time to time, so that you do not give contracts to foreign companies and they have no obligation to ensure that there is a local content in that contract. We have already seen emerging conflictual issues arising from the exploration that is taking place in northern Kenya, especially in Turkana County. Therefore, this Bill will go a long way in resolving some of those tensions. The contractor must give priority to services provided and goods manufactured in Kenya where the goods meet the specifications of the petroleum industry as prescribed by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) or, in the absence of a Kenyan standard, any other internationally acceptable standard that the authority established under this Bill may approve. In other words, when those companies that are exploring for oil need to procure goods and services, they must give priority to service providers from Kenya or the manufacturers of Kenyan goods so long as they meet the relevant technical specifications. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, allow me to highlight two other issues. The first one is on Part 8 on Environment, Health and Safety Provision which again never used to exist in the old law. Clause 86 going downwards requires that the law relating to environment, health and safety in upstream petroleum operations must apply to each contractor. The contractors and people involved in our petroleum undertakings must ensure the safety of people working for them and they must invest in environmental friendly technology. This is important in these days of environmental sensitivities, so that they do not use technologies that can be harmful to the natural environment and destroy plants and animals. The last point I want to highlight is on the proposed production sharing contract which must be entered into every time there is an upstream petroleum undertaking. Every time a contract is being issued for the undertakings that have to do with the exploration for oil and petroleum, there must be a standard of a model production sharing contract which has been elaborated as very extensive. It must have very useful modern provisions that state for how long the contract exists, the obligations of those who are given exploration rights, how it can be terminated, the minimum exploration work and expenditure obligations et cetera . It must be a very detailed technical but also community sensitive production sharing contract. This is something which was missing from the previous law. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, allow me to say that this Bill will go a long way in modernizing our exploration for oil. Going by recent discoveries, Kenya, and indeed much of East Africa, is the next frontier for exploration activities. So, we will see many of these undertakings taking place. We already have discovered oil in Turkana. Recently, another discovery was announced in Elgeyo-Marakwet County. I am also aware that other counties, including Tharaka-Nithi, are potentially oil rich counties. The future of The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}