A Tullow Oil exploration rig in Turkana. FILE PHOTO | NMG
British oil explorer Tullow has reported a barren oil search
from its latest drilling expedition in Turkana, ending its success
streak for the first time this year.
The firm had
struck two fresh oil finds in January and May, something that emboldened
it to widen its search and raised prospects of increasing the country’s
proven reserves.
So far the country has discovered
oil reserves estimated at 750 million barrels – which experts say are
commercially viable for production and exports.
“The
Araku-1 exploration well in Suriname has been drilled to a total depth
of 2,685 metres and penetrated the objectives of the Araku prospect. No
significant reservoir quality rocks were encountered although logging
and sampling proved the presence of gas condensate,” Tullow said in its
update.
“The well is now being plugged and abandoned”,
the firm said adding that “geological insights gained from this well
offer significant future exploration potential in the Group’s acreage.”
The Araku well was drilled in Block 54 which Tullow Oil operates jointly with partners Statoil and Noble Energy.
Tullow
in May announced it had struck 75 metres of oil in two zones at the
Emekuya-1 well in Block 13T of the Lokichar basin, Turkana.
The
find came four months after the exploration company discovered another
25 metres of oil at Erut-1 well in the same block in January.
Yesterday,
however, the firm reported a different experience, “The Araku-1 well
was an ambitious wildcat exploration well that was drilled efficiently
and at very low cost. While we have not made a commercial discovery, we
are encouraged by recovering gas condensate from the well and remain
fully committed to exploration in Suriname and Guyana,” Mr Angus McCoss,
Tullow’s exploration director said in the statement
Kenya has announced it will resume plans for small-scale oil exports in December after suspending it in June.
The
country expects to move between 2,000 and 4,000 barrels of oil daily by
trucks to be stored at the defunct Kenya Petroleum Refinery’s storage
tanks in Mombasa port city, pending shipment.
Tullow
had by June already pumped out and stored 60,000 barrels of crude in
Lokichar in readiness for transportation to Mombasa port by trucks.
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