Tullow Oil opens community resource offices in Northern Kenya

British explorer has opened community resource offices in northern Kenya to encourage dialogue and partnerships with communities in the area where it has been prospecting oil.

“Tullow community resource offices in Northern Kenya now open, reinforcing our partnerships with host communities,” the company posted on its twitter handle.

According to the company the offices will help foster relations with the communities after growing tensions in the last few months that culminated in protests by the Turkana community who accused the company of not creating employment opportunities to its people.

This led to a halt in exploration activities at Twiga South-1, Ngamia-1 and Etuko-1 sites only to resume operations following dialogue with Turkana elders.

In a statement thereafter the company said it considered relationships with the local communities extremely seriously and the decision to suspend exploration and appraisal operations was taken to prevent further escalation of the demonstrations while discussions to resolve this issue for the long term are ongoing.

“The company is fully committed to utilizing as many local workers and local services as possible and currently employs over 800 people from the Turkana region out of the 1,400 people currently employed on Tullow’s Kenyan operations,” read a statement from the company.

This new move could be then a move in the right direction to create better relationships with the Turkana and other neighboring communities.