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Tullow to start drilling two wells by end of year

RIG

An oil rig in Turkana. Angus McCoss, the exploration director, Tullow, said that work on the two wells dubbed Amosing-1 and Etuko-1 in Block 10BB in Turkana East will be stepped up. Photo/FILE

British firm Tullow Oil will begin drilling in two new wells before the end of the year after making its fifth consecutive oil discovery in northern Kenya.

Mr Angus McCoss, the exploration director, said that work on the two wells dubbed Amosing-1 and Etuko-1 in Block 10BB in Turkana East will be stepped up.

Tullow on Friday announced it had struck fresh deposits at separate site known as Agete-1 exploration well in Block 13T its fifth since the multinational began exploratory drilling in the semi-arid region in 2012, deepening the prospects of Kenya becoming an oil producer.

“Exploration and appraisal activities continue to accelerate with the Amosing-1 well expected to commence drilling before the end of November,” said Mr McCoss in a statement Friday.

“The Etuko-1 well test in Block 10BB is also scheduled to commence this month. An intensive campaign for 2014 includes appraisal and exploration within this first basin and pioneering wells targeting the prospectivity throughout the entire chain of similar rift basins.”

This marks the first major announcement since Tullow Oil restarted operations in northern Kenya on November 8 after reaching a deal with local leaders to prevent a repeat of protests that halted work last month.

Residents in Turkana, supported by a local politician, marched on Tullow operations on October 26 to demand more jobs and other benefits.

Kenya has recently become a hotbed of exploration, with neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda also striking commercially viable quantities of hydrocarbons.

Tullow has operations on five on-shore blocks in Kenya, including 10A, 10BA, 10BB, 13T, 12A and 12B and a non-operated partner in off-shore block L8 where American exploration firm Apache Corporation is searching for oil.

Analysts said Tullow’s exploration successes in northern Kenya have raised Kenya’s profile as a viable frontier market investment destination.