Kennedy Senelwa
18 December 2011
Nairobi — Kenya is set to gazette seven new offshore oil exploration areas with Total of France and state-owned Petrobras of Brazil expressing interest in the fields.
“We are moving fast to map out seven new fields in water depth of about 3,000 metres,” senior principal superintending geologist Hudson Andambi said at a workshop in Nairobi.
Offshore exploration activities are also expected to intensify in 2012 as US-owned Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Apache Corporation each plan to drill an oil well. Tullow Oil Plc is Apache’s joint venture partner.
Recent entry of Total and Shell in offshore oil exploration in Kenya and Tanzania respectively have raised East Africa’s investment profile.
Dr Antony Wyatt of Robert Gordon University said interest in the region is buoyed by the global high price of refined fuel.
Kenya hopes a commercial discovery will be made in the near future as the country has geological features similar to those of areas where crude oil was found in Uganda and natural gas is being exploited in Tanzania.
London Stock Exchange-quoted Tullow is awaiting Ugandan government’s approval for the firm, jointly with Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, to proceed with production plans near Lake Albert. Tullow is also expected to start drilling Ngamia-1 well near Lodwar in the first quarter of 2012. It had planned to carry out the exercise in November but logistics were not favourable.
“Weatherford rig will start drilling the Ngamia well in the first quarter of 2012. Moving heavy drilling equipment from the port of Mombasa was a large exercise that required over 150 trucks,” Tullow Kenya general manager Martin Mbogo said.
Further drilling
In the second quarter of 2012, Tullow is expected to move the Weatherford rig from Lokichar area near Lodwar by road to Nairobi then to Isiolo and finally Marsabit district to sink the Paipai-1 well in northern Kenya.
Drilling of Paipai well in block 10A is expected to start in the second quarter of 2012. The Weatherford rig will be moved from near Lake Turkana by road to Nairobi through Isiolo town to Marsabit district.
The average cost of drilling a well onshore is about $30 million while offshore is between $50 million and $100 million.
Tullow, which has exploration interests in Tanzania, will in also sink another well offshore in Kenya jointly with Apache Corporation, Origin Energy Ltd and Pancontinental Oil & Gas NL.
In October, Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi granted official approval for acquisition of 30 per cent exploration interests by Total SA in five fields covering 30,682 square kilometres. Total acquired the entire 15 per cent stake of Dynamic Global Advisers, five per cent from Cove Energy and 20 per cent from Anadarko.
Seismic surveys to map out potential oil deposits over two areas will be completed soon with the first exploration well planned for drilling in 2012.
AllAfrica – All the Time