More oil found in Turkana
News 03:00
Tullow Oil Plc, which found oil in Ngamia-1 well in March, said it had struck 80 more metres of oil deposits.
“This ongoing wildcat is an excellent start to our exploration campaign. The net pay encountered so far in Ngamia-1 is more than double that encountered in any of our East African exploration wells to date.
“We now look forward to the drilling and evaluation of the deeper potential of this well and the acceleration of our seismic and drilling campaigns in the region,” said Mr Angus McCoss, exploration director at Tullow Oil Plc.
At a press briefing on Monday, the firm’s country manager, Mr Martin Mbogo, said it was too early to say whether the deposits were commercially viable.
He said this would become clearer with the sinking of more wells.
“We expect to complete drilling the Ngamia-1 well in four to five weeks. However, it is too early to tell about the commercial viability of the oil as we are yet to sink other wells,” said Mr Mbogo.
Towards the end of March, Tullow announced it had discovered oil after drilling 1,041 metres with its partner Africa Oil Corp.
The deposits were estimated at 20 metres deep and the announcement yesterday after only sinking 1,515 metres pointed to more deposits.
“The Ngamia-1 well will continue to be drilled to a total depth of approximately 2,700 metres to explore deeper potential,” Mr Mbogo said.
He added that the company will explore other wells in the same basin after establishing the capacity of Ngamia-1.
But Kenyans will have to wait longer to see their first processed oil.
Uganda expects to start refining crude oil from its fields in 2014, eight years after discovery.
It found oil deposits in 2006 in the Albertine basin along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and reserves of about 2.5 billion barrels have been confirmed.
Oil is Kenya’s largest import item. It is the main factor that was blamed on last year’s depreciation of the shilling and the country’s widening import bill that has put pressure on the current account.
Commercialisation will be a major relief for the Central Bank of Kenya, which has been under pressure to keep the shilling stable despite a widening trade deficit.
Energy minister Kiraitu Murungi revealed that his ministry was revising the Petroleum Exploration Act to ensure that revenue sharing was in line with the Constitution.
He said the ministry had sent staff for training in the countries that have made similar discoveries to prepare them for mass production.
Posted on 03:00.
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