This study examines the impacts of economic, social and environmental consequences of oil extraction on public opinion in an economically and politically marginalised community in northern Kenya. We conduct a conjoint experiment on a sample of 801 respondents in urban and semi-urban locations in Turkana county and find that our respondents strongly support the oil extraction overall. Although priming about the environmental and social costs decreases local residents’ support for oil extraction, the decrease is so small that the community's perception of oil extraction remains positive. However, the support is significantly higher among the respondents living in the neighbourhoods distant from oil wells in operation relative to those who live close to oil sites. In addition the responses to economic benefits of oil extraction also vary by respondents’ distance from oil wells. Contrary to the existing literature, we do not find evidence for strong resentment toward oil extraction in Turkana county.

本研究考察了石油开采对肯尼亚北部经济和政治边缘化社区公众舆论的经济、社会和环境影响。我们对图尔卡纳县城市和半城市地区的 801 名受访者样本进行了联合实验，发现我们的受访者总体上强烈支持石油开采。尽管环境和社会成本的启动降低了当地居民对采油的支持，但下降幅度如此之小，以至于社区对采油的看法仍然是积极的。然而，与居住在油田附近的受访者相比，居住在远离运营中的油井附近的受访者的支持率要高得多。此外，对石油开采经济效益的反应也因受访者与油井的距离而异。与现有文献相反，我们没有发现图尔卡纳县对石油开采的强烈不满的证据。