Kenya has resumed plans to offer new oil and gas exploration opportunities after restarting a licensing round that had been on hold for months due to delays in putting the necessary laws in place.
The Energy and Petroleum Ministry is now preparing to conduct the country’s first competitive auction for 10 exploration blocks in the Anza and Lamu basins. To support the process, the government is seeking to hire a consultant firm with expertise in petroleum transactions to provide guidance and help attract international investors.
“The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, through the State Department for Petroleum, intends to conduct the first licensing round by offering exploration acreage in 10 premium blocks to qualified oil and gas companies,” the ministry said in a fresh disclosure.
“To support this process, the government seeks to engage a qualified consultant firm with expertise in oil and gas transactions to provide advisory services, technical knowledge, and market insights aimed at attracting international capital and enhancing the competitiveness of Kenya’s petroleum sector.”
The auction had initially been scheduled for September 2025 but was delayed as the government worked to enact regulations under the Energy Act 2019. The timeline was later shifted to June this year, and the new laws have now cleared the way for the competitive licensing process.
The auction system represents a change from the previous approach, where companies would identify areas believed to hold oil or gas and then negotiate directly with the government before signing a Production Sharing Contract.
A Production Sharing Contract outlines the responsibilities and benefits for both the government and a company in exploring, developing, and producing hydrocarbons within a designated area.
The 10 blocks offered in this round are part of 50 areas identified by the Energy Ministry as having strong potential for oil and gas resources.
It is not yet clear if the round will include blocks located within the roughly 100,000 square kilometre triangular section of the Indian Ocean that has been the subject of a maritime boundary dispute between Kenya and Somalia.
Somalia took the case to the International Court of Justice, which ruled in its favour in 2021. Kenya rejected the decision, accusing the court of bias.
The disputed triangle contains three blocks that had been licensed to the Italian company Eni, but those licences expired in 2024.