Tullow Oil makes new oil discovery in Kenya

“This is the fourth consecutive wildcat discovery, in the first oil basin opened in Northern Kenya, since our drilling commenced in 2012,” said Tullow in a statement.

The Ekales-1 well is located between the Ngamia-1 and Twiga South-1 oil discoveries and the reservoir properties at this location appear similar to those previously encountered.

Once operations have completed the rig will move to drill the exploration prospect Amosing-1 south of Ngamia-1.

Tullow operates the Ekales-1 well and Africa Oil (50 per cent) has a non-operated interest.

Elsewhere, the firm disclosed, the Agete-1 well, also in block 13T, commenced drilling in mid-September and expects a third rig to be operational in Q4 2013. Angus McCoss, Exploration Director, Tullow Oil plc. said this success at the Ekales-1 wildcat is further evidence of the exceptional oil potential of our East African Rift Basin acreage.

“Having opened the first basin with the Ngamia-1 well last year, we are now increasing the pace of exploration in Kenya aiming for 12 wells over the next 12 months,” he added.

So far, the British firm is the only company among those that are licensed for exploration for oil and gas locally that has discovered oil.

In its half-year report, the oil explorer said that local oil deposits, which they estimated to be in excess of 300 million barrels, meet the threshold for commercial exploitation, an indication it could consider starting the production process once the necessary infrastructure such as pipelines is set up.

Industry practices

However, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum has insisted that oil exploration companies need to drill a certain minimum number of wells, which in most industry practices can be as many as 40 before production can start.

Early this year, a top Energy Ministry official disclosed that Kenya has mapped out eight new blocks for onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration,.

Exploration interest in Kenya has surged since the country announced a year ago its first oil strike discovery by British explorer Tullow Oil in Turkana, followed by a second find in the same region.

The discoveries triggered a rush by international oil and gas companies to snap up what remained of Kenya’s 46 exploration licenses.

“We have mapped eight blocks and forwarded them to be included in the official Kenya Gazette,” former Energy Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike told journalists.