Oil firm to seek more time to prospect in Mandera

A rig at Ngamia 1 where Tullow Oil Company is exploring oil in Turkana County. A Canadian firm exploring for oil in Mandera has hit a dead end after failing to strike any oil or gas deposits despite earlier indications that the area could be holding up to 251 million barrels of oil. PHOTO | FILE |   NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• Taipan Resources is considering seeking additional time from the government to complete exploration work on block 2B
• Last year, Africa Oil Corporation made significant discoveries of natural gas deposits at Sala-1 well in the adjacent Anza basin, boosting Taipan’s prospects.

By IMMACULATE KARAMBU
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A Canadian firm exploring for oil in Mandera has hit a dead end after failing to strike any oil or gas deposits despite earlier indications that the area could be holding up to 251 million barrels of oil.

As a result, Taipan Resources is considering seeking additional time from the government to complete exploration work on block 2B, where it began drilling in January.

Taipan Resources, through its wholly-owned Kenyan subsidiary Lion Petroleum Inc, disclosed the plan in its latest update of exploration activity on block 2B.

The company holds 30 per cent interest in the block where it is also the operator. The rest is shared between Tower Resources and Premier Oil at 15 and 55 per cent, respectively.

“The operator has proposed seeking additional time from the government to complete its evaluation of the remaining prospectivity of what is a very large block prior to a decision on entering the next phase of exploration,” reads a statement from the firm.

Badada-1, the first well on the block, has been drilled to a depth of 3,500 metres at a cost of Sh2.3 billion ($25.8 million) but failed to indicate any traces of oil or natural gas deposits.

MADE SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERIES

Firms licensed for exploration in the block were upbeat that drilling would indicate oil deposits such as those in the Lokichar basin where Africa Oil Corporation and its partner Tullow Oil Plc have made significant discoveries.

The block is located in an area which Taipan and its partners say shares a similar geological structure with that of the Lokichar basin.

Last year, Africa Oil Corporation made significant discoveries of natural gas deposits at Sala-1 well in the adjacent Anza basin, boosting Taipan’s prospects.

Taipan released the crude resource estimate on block 2B last March while announcing the results of a seismic study (geological data collection) that it had carried out.

The report came out just a month after the same company stated that the Mandera basin had the potential of 1.6 billion barrels of oil, raising the country’s prospects of becoming an oil-producing nation.