Economy

Tullow strikes fresh oil deposits at Turkana block

RIG

An oil rig in Turkana. Tullow’s new find at Agete raises Kenya’s prospects as an oil producer. FILE

British oil exploration firm Tullow struck fresh oil deposits in Turkana, further deepening the prospects of Kenya becoming an oil producer, the Energy ministry said.

Davis Chirchir, the Energy Cabinet Secretary on Thursday told Parliament of the new find at Agete, in Turkana County, making it the fifth consecutive wildcat discovery since Tullow began exploratory drilling in the semi-arid region in 2012.

“Tullow, through an e-mail on Thursday morning informed me of the discovery at the Agete well after drilling 1,930 feet,” Mr Chirchir told the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Communication and Information.

Tullow says that the Agete-1 exploration well in Block 13T, onshore Northern Kenya, has discovered and sampled moveable oil with an estimated 100 metres of net oil pay in good quality sandstone reservoirs.

“A fifth consecutive oil discovery onshore Northern Kenya highlights the emerging world class exploration and production potential within our rift basin acreage.

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,” Angus McCoss, Exploration Director, Tullow in a statement send to the media.

The commercial viability of the Lokichar find is yet to be ascertained, but hopes are rising that Kenya could become a petroleum producer and exporter.

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.

Smaller players such as Cove, Origin Oil, Pancontinental and Lion Energy, who had dominated Kenya’s prospecting scene for years, have been quietly exiting in recognition of the change in the balance of power in favour of big players like France’s Total and US majors Anadarko and Apache.

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.