East Africa: More Oil Found in Kenya

By Humphrey Liloba*

Nairobi — Kenya could be on the brink of joining the league of endowed oil producers with the striking of further oil deposits in the remote Turkana County.

Just a few months after oil explorer Tullow announced a huge find of the precious commodity around Ngamia 1 in the county, its partner Africa Oil came out last week to announce that it has stumbled on a further 43 metres of potential oil in a different block in the same area.

The firm announced that though it had intended to drill to depths of 2700 metres, it had suspended the search as at 2300 metres since there were all indications of oil in the block. Its officials said the firm wills now contrite efforts on determining the commercial viability of the oil.

In March, Tullow announced it had discovered over 100 metres of oil throwing the East African country into celebration even before confirmation on the commercial viability of the find. This was after drilling only 1,000 metres of the intended 3,000.

According to Africa Oil CEO Keith Hill, the company is optimistic on the commercial viability of the find.

“We anticipate high quality oil from this find. All indications are that the standards are higher than what we have achieved in most countries,” said Hill in a statement sent to media outlets in Kenya.

Most of Turkana is currently a beehive of activity as companies rush for a share of the oil fields that were once neglected and marginalized county.

“Testing equipment including downhole pumps is being mobilized and the intention is to test a number of the zones in the Upper and Lower Lokhone Sands in the near future to confirm the full potential of this discovery,” read the statement in part.

In East Africa, Kenya now joins Uganda which has also announced huge oil deposits in areas around its border with the mineral concentrated DR Congo.

* courtesy of East Africa Business Week,Kampala