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Friday, January 23, 2015
Both Tullow Oil and Africa Oil Corp., partners on several blocks in East Africa, updated their exploration activities. The Epir-1 exploration well on Block 10BB in Kenya’s North Kerio Basin was drilled to test a separate sub-basin from that tested by the Kodos-1 well.
While the well was not a discovery for the pair it did encounter oil and wet gas shows over a 100-meter interval of non-reservoir quality rocks, demonstrating a working petroleum system in this lacustrine sub-basin. Further exploration activities will be considered in the North Kerio Basin following analysis and integration of the valuable data collected from the well. The well will be plugged and abandoned, after which the Weatherford 804 rig will move to the Ekales-2 well location in the South Lokichar Basin.
Also on Block 10BB the PR Marriott 46 rig has been busy with the drilling of the Ngamia-5, Ngamia-6, and Amosing-3 appraisal wells. Both Ngamia wells were drilled from the Ngamia-1 discovery well pad. Ngamia-5 was drilled to a final depth of 2,317 meters and was deviated approximately 500 meters northeast of Ngamia-1, encountering between 160 to 200 meters of net oil pay. Ngamia-6 was drilled to a final depth of 2,480 meters and was deviated approximately 800 meters north of Ngamia-1, encountering up to 135 meters of net oil pay. Both wells have been suspended and remain available for use in an extended well test program that will commence in Q2 2015.
The Amosing-3 well in Block 10BB continued the successful appraisal of the Amosing oil field. The well was drilled approximately 1 km northwest of the Amosing-1 discovery, encountering over 107 meters of net oil pay in good quality reservoir sands. The well reached a final depth of 2,403 meters and has been suspended for use in future appraisal and development activities. The PR Marriott 46 rig will now be moved to continue the appraisal of the Ngamia field, drilling the Ngamia-7 well to test the field’s eastern flank.
On Block 10BA in the North Turkana Basin Tullow and Africa Oil spud the Engomo-1 exploration well using the new SMP-106 rig. The Engomo-1 well is the first well to be drilled to test the prospective North Turkana Basin. Results from this well are expected in early-March.
In addition to a host of drilling, the partners acquired 951 sq km of 3D seismic over the series of significant oil discoveries in the western basin bounding fault play of the South Lokichar Basin. Tullow said that fast-track processed data is already being used in the south of the basin while the remainder of the survey will be available for seismic interpretation by the end of Q1.
The initial evaluation of the 3D seismic data indicates significantly improved structural and stratigraphic definition and additional prospectivity not evident on the previous 2D seismic data. In addition, the partnership has acquired over 1,100 meters of core samples from the South Lokichar Basin wells and an extensive program of detailed core analysis is ongoing that will provide results from the first quarter 2015 onwards, to measure oil saturation and assess recovery factors of the reservoir sands.
Commenting, Angus McCoss, Exploration Director said: “The Epir-1 wildcat well proved the existence of a working oil system in the North Kerio Basin, encouraging us to consider further exploration activities. The Ekales-2 exploratory appraisal well is a bold step-out away from the South Lokichar Basin bounding fault with follow up potential. Continued success in the appraisal of the Ngamia and Amosing oil fields is highly encouraging as we continue with development studies for the South Lokichar Basin.”
Tullow Operates Blocks 10BB, 13T and 10BA with 50% equity and is partnered by Africa Oil Corp., also with 50%.
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