The Port of Mombasa has received 2,152 tonnes of onshore drilling equipment for commercial oil production in Turkana’s South Lokichar Basin.
The Kenya Ports Authority said on Sunday the consignment arrived Saturday aboard MV Transit Sedanka after sailing from Abu Dhabi via Duqm.
Among the cargo is a GW70 integrated onshore drilling rig rated at 1,500 horsepower and valued by the authority at more than KSh 2 billion.
Operator Gulf Energy E&P BV SEZ has leased the unit from Great Wall Drilling Company and will move it by road to Turkana after discharge and clearance.
The company has set 1 November as the first-well spud date, keeping first oil targeted for December 2026.
South Lokichar is estimated to hold 326 million barrels of recoverable oil across a 25-year development period.
Total project investment is put at about $6.1 billion, or roughly KSh 790 billion, making it one of Kenya’s largest energy undertakings.
Phase one is designed to produce 20,000 barrels a day. Output is planned to rise to 50,000 barrels a day in the second phase.
Energy regulator EPRA said this month that first crude exports through Mombasa are expected in the first quarter of 2027.
The cargo arrives 14 years after Tullow Oil’s 2012 discovery. Tullow sold its Kenyan assets to Gulf Energy in 2025 for $120 million.
Kenya approved the Field Development Plan in late 2025. Parliament ratified the plan in February 2026, clearing the path to field work.
Gulf Energy has contracted Baker Hughes for integrated well services and SLB to supply an early production facility for phase one.
Early barrels are expected to move by road tanker to Mombasa. Later volumes may shift to rail once extra capacity is in place.
The December deadline leaves little slack. The rig still needs commissioning, while roads, security and community issues in Turkana remain live risks.
If the schedule holds, Kenya would join East Africa’s small group of crude producers and test whether a domestic operator can convert a long-stalled discovery into export cash.
