{UAH} AfDB willing to arrange Kenya oil pipeline financing | News by Country | Reuters

NAIROBI, April 1 (Reuters) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) is ready to act as a lead arranger for financing of Kenya's planned oil pipeline to move crude from fields in the far north county of Turkana, a senior official of the bank said on Friday.

Kenya and Uganda have been haggling over which route to choose for an oil export pipeline that Kenya wants to run through its territory rather than neighbouring Tanzania, where an alternate project backed by oil major Total, looks set to get the green light.

"Whatever comes out of this conversation, one thing is for sure - Kenya will build a pipeline," said Gabriel Negatu, the Nairobi-based regional director of the AfDB.

He said South Sudan would probably link up with Kenya, just based on proximity, as both countries look to pipe its oil out to the world through the proposed port of Lamu, which formed part of a broader infrastructure development plan known as the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor.

"The numbers will have to make sense in the end. There are political risks and economic risks and those will have to be weighed and costed and the ultimate decision will be a sovereign decision," Negatu said.

http://af.reuters.com/article/kenyaNews/idAFL5N1742TN

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