Tullow Kenya to start drilling two wells in December

British firm Tullow Oil and its Joint Venture Partners will recommence exploration drilling activities in four wells in the South Lokichar basin next month.

In their November Trading Update, they said,  “These wells include the drilling of two new exploration prospects and the appraisal of two of the existing discoveries, the Ngamia and Amosing fields. The wells to be drilled are Etete, a structure south of the Etom field; Erut, a  new prospect in the north of the basin; Ngamia South, an appraisal well to extend Ngamia to the southeast; and lastly Amosing Updip, a well targeting undrilled near-fault volumes.”

Tullow is operating  on-shore blocks namely;10BA,10A,10BB,13T,12A and 12B.Tullow is also a non-operated partner in the offshore block L8 of Apache Corporation, an American explorer.
The Sakson PR5 rig which drilled the Agete-1 to a total depth of 1,930 metres  will be moved to drill the Ewoi-1 wildcat in the east of the basin, targeting a rift flank prospect similar to the recent Etuko oil discovery.

According to Tullow, the Early Oil Pilot Scheme (EOPS), which involves the transportation of early South Lokichar oil production to Mombasa by road, has been sanctioned by the Joint Venture Partners.

“The EOPS will use existing upstream wells and oil storage tanks to initially produce approximately 2,000 bopd gross in mid-2017.”

In October, Tullow Oil Plc announced that it was seeking trucking companies to transport crude to the port city of Mombasa.

The work will involve the trucking of crude in insulated containers from a production facility near Lokichar, Turkana county, to storage facilities run by Kenya Petroleum Refineries Ltd. It said it plans to lease 100 ISO T11 standard insulated containers with a minimum fluid capacity of 25,000 liters.

Regarding Kenya, “a recent 3-D survey shows additional upside potential,” Tim O’Hanlon, vice president for Tullow Oil’s Africa business said at the same conference reported by the Independent.

Mr O’Hanlon said in Uganda, where it has 1.7 billion barrels of oil to develop, Tullow Oil is targeting an export pipeline capable of taking 200-230,000 barrels a day to Tanga port in Tanzania.

The Group will publish a Trading Statement and Operational Update on 11 January 2017. Full Year Results for 2016 will be announced on 8 February 2017.