Turkana, Kenya: Independent oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil has said its exploration partner in Turkana County, Africa Oil, had found oil and gas at the Ngamia-2 well. Tullow jointly owns interests in Block 10BB with Canadian exploration firm.
“The success of the Ngamia-2 exploratory appraisal well builds on our major basin opening discovery well, Ngamia-1,” said Angus McCoss, exploration director at Tullow Oil.
The London-listed explorer has a 50 per cent operated interest in Blocks 10BB and 13T in northern Kenya. The firm said flow rates at the Agete-1 well were also tested at 500 barrels of oil per day, adding that it was further evaluating the prospect
“The Agete -1 well test flowed at 500 barrels of oil per day and the partnership continue to evaluate this discovery. With five rigs drilling in Kenya and Ethiopia, there is much to look forward to in the second half of the year,” he said.
Net gas pay
In total, the partners are currently drilling in five locations in Kenya and Ethiopia. Ngamia-2 appraisal encounters up to 39 metres of net oil pay and 11 metres of net gas pay. “The well encountered up to 39 meters of net oil pay and 11 meters of net gas pay and appears to have identified a new fault block trap north of the main Ngamia accumulation.
The reservoirs were high quality with more than 200 metres of net reservoir sands with good permeability from sampling, said the firm. “The well has been suspended for testing and the rig will continue to drill up to four additional appraisal wells in the Ngamia field area for an extended well test program,” he said.
Early this year, Tullow Oil announced it had found net oil pay of between 160 and 200 metres in Amosing-1 and of between 20 and 80 metres in Ewoi-1, both located in Block 10BB.
“We will now be working with national and county governments with the aim of progressing both the upstream development and the associated export pipeline to project sanction in the period 2015 to 2016,” Tullow Chief Operating Officer Paul McDade said in a statement.
Huge deposits
The firm said that drilling results from the Ekales-1 and Agete-1 wells, both located on the same block, show that the Lokichar basin could have as much as 600 million barrels of oil. The discovery now estimates that the basin could have as much as one billion barrels of oil.
Petroleum experts said that at this stage the data only paints a vague picture of the basin but only drilling an appraisal well, which Tullow plans to do, can show vivid details.
Experts say analysts are sieved, but also added that there are good prospects based on Tullow’s marathon of drilling wells with positive finds.
Tullow said that it plans to drill an additional 20 wells in other oil blocks in the next two years. The Emong-1 well, adjacent to the Ngamia field and the Twiga South-2 appraisal well, both in Block 13T, are earmarked as the next drilling sites.
