Australian firm strikes oil in Lamu

Lamu, Kenya: Pancontinental Oil and Gas Wednesday announced that an exploratory well that it had sunk off the Lamu coast in March encountered amounts of oil, which the firm said was the first offshore discovery in Kenya.

After an analysis of wireline logs recovered during the drilling, the Australian firm has said there is a 14 metre thick oil column found underneath a 29.6 metre column of gas.

The firm noted that the results are significant because they are the first proof of the presence a prospective oil system in the Lamu Basin offshore Kenya.It also expects the discovery to push up offshore exploration activities in Kenya.

Essential discovery

Though previous updates by the company said the oil finds are unlikely to be commercially viable, the firm yesterday said this was an essential discovery as it proves there are more oil deposits.

The region is also thought to have natural gas resources with several firms having encountered gas in the past but none has announced any major finds.

“The Sunbird-1 oil is the historic first-ever oil discovery offshore Kenya,” said Barry Rushworth chief executive Pancontinental.

“Furthermore, it is the only offshore oil column ever reported seaward of the eastern coastal margin of the African continent, from South Africa to the northwest tip of Somalia.”

Pancontinental in April said the well would be plugged but analysis would be done on the deposits recovered. It had been drilled to a depth of 1583 metres, with a water depth of 723 metres.