Government yet to establish nature of Kajiado gas

A drilled borehole producing gas in Kisaju, Kajiado County. A water official discovered methane gas while drilling a borehole (David Njaaga, Standard)

It could be too early for Kajiado residents to celebrate what has been termed as a gas find.

This is after the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum said it is unsure of the type of gas that was found in the county, adding that it was undertaking tests on both the well and a sample collected last week.

Energy industry experts are also of the same view, noting that the find ‘could be something or may turn out to be nothing’.

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.

Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau, however, said the ministry is yet to establish the nature of the gas and would need to undertake tests of samples collected from the well and the locality.

“We do not know what kind of gas it is. It is too early to tell… it could have been a crack in the ground that has been storing this gas for many years,” he said.

“At 200 metres, it is too shallow and we are not sure what to make of it. We will only be able to make sense of it once we get the test results, which we expect in about two weeks’ time.”

If it turns out that the discovery is ‘something’, it would be a big boost for the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (Nock), which has been licensed to explore oil in Block 14T, and has for years struggled to move forward with the exploration activities.

The State oil firm has recently started undertaking a 2D seismic survey, with the data from the exercise expected to give a clearer picture on the resources in the block and inform its next move.

The ministry last week said Nock had contracted an American firm to test some of the samples taken from the area.

Oil possibility

According to Kamau, the results will inform the way forward including further drilling to establish the quantity of the gas as well as the possibility of oil.

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.

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

Environmental consultant Daniel Wanjoki says the gas had properties similar to methane or butane gas.

He, however, noted that a depth of 200 metres was fairly shallow to encounter gas - a pointer that the reservoir from which the gas is coming from could either be a small one or a jackpot find if it turns out to be a huge deposit.

Ordinarily, exploration and production companies have to dig in excess of 3,000 metres underground before finding gas or oil.

“It requires thorough geological survey to ascertain the nature of the gas and whether there is potential…. But from the look of the flame (light blue), it appears to be a low carbon molecule that is likely to be methane or butane gas,” said Wanjoki in an interview with The Standard’s sister station KTN News.

In the event that the tests reveal it is natural gas and in large quantities, the Kajiado discovery could add to other gas deposits discovered in coastal Kenya, where a consortium of three firms found huge natural gas reserves in offshore Lamu in 2012.

Progress stalled

Progress in exploiting the find has, however, stalled. This is after the lead player in the consortium, America’s Apache Corporation, quit Kenya shortly after making the discovery, saying other areas on its portfolio provided better investment opportunities compared to Kenya.

Exploiting natural gas is costly and entails liquefying it to make it easily transportable.

This would mean that Kenya would need to invest in facilities, which run into billions of dollars.