Tests on inflammable substance shows no gas in Kenya

Energy Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau (PHOTO: FILE)

NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya’s dream to join the league of gas producing nations suffered a blow when tests on inflammable substance recently discovered in Kajiado proved negative.

According to reports in local dailies, the government confirms that the result on the substance conducted in US said the inflammable substance came from shallow buried layers of decomposed animals and plants.

The gas was ‘discovered’ in early October after a farmer in Kipeto area of Kajiado County, Joseph Malonye, contracted hydrologists to drill a borehole that was expected to boost his farming activities.

At 200 metres, the hydrologists came across a ‘reservoir’ of what they said was an odourless gas and upon lighting it, the gas caught fire, leading to the lay conclusion that this was natural gas.

“There is nothing under the rocks, so there will be no drilling,” Petroleum PS Andrew Kamau said.

Despite the excitement the gas find generated in the area, the ministry has remained quiet with State officials saying that more tests would be undertaken on both the well and samples.

Industry experts echoed the sentiments of the ministry, noting that more tests needed to be undertaken to determine the nature of the gas and the locality.

“It is a positive development and the analysis of the gas will give us a clearer idea of what it is,” said Upstream Oil & Gas Chief Executive Joe Watson Gakuo in an earlier interview with Financial Standard.

“However, it does inform us that there is a working hydrocarbon system in Kajiado, which lies on National Oil’s Block 14T.”