Emekuya-1 is located 2.5 kilometres north of Etom-2 where the firm encountered 102 metres of net oil pay in two columns in 2015/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 17 – Kenya’s oil export prospects have been boosted following Tullow Oil new discovery of more crude oil in the South Lokichar basin.
The firm has announced that it encountered 75 metres of net oil pay in two zones at Emekuya-1 well in Block 13T pushing the estimated crude oil reserves in the South Lokichar Basin to 750 million barrels.
“The Emekuya-1 exploratory appraisal well has made an important discovery in the northern part of the South Lokichar Basin. This well has proven oil charge across a significant part of the Greater Etom structure and we are very encouraged by the quality and particularly the regional extent of the reservoir,” says Angus McCoss, Exploration Director at Tullow Oil.
Emekuya-1 is located 2.5 kilometres north of Etom-2 where the firm encountered 102 metres of net oil pay in two columns in 2015.
The firm says the down hole pressure measurements and fluid samples suggest that the main oil reservoir is of the same static pressure gradient as the Etom-2 well which demonstrates that a major part of the Greater Etom structure is oil-filled.
The well was drilled by the PR Marriott Rig-46 to a total measured depth of 1,356 metres and penetrated reservoir quality Miocene sandstones which correlate to those seen in the successful Etom-2 well.
Tullow operates Blocks 13T and 10BB with 50 percent equity and has partnered with Africa Oil Corporation and Maersk Oil both with 25 percent.
Tullow Oil has so far successfully completed of Erut 1, Amosing 6 and Ngamia 10. A.
This comes at a time when Kenya is already at an advanced stage of working on an Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS) to specifically exploit five wells to produce oil, with phase one targeting production of 2,000 barrels per day ahead of Full Field Development (FFD).
The oil will be transported from Turkana to Mombasa by road in insulated tank containers – expected to commence in later this month.
Over 60,000 barrels of crude are currently stored at Lokichar which will be exported after undergoing processing at Kenya Petroleum Refineries in Mombasa.
