British explorer Tullow and its partner Africa Oil have secured a fourth rig, to join the fleet drilling and testing wells in onshore Kenyan Blocks 10BB and 13T and Ethiopian South Omo Block. It will resume work during October 2013.
The partnership has, since the beginning of 2013, completed a series of well tests at both Twiga South-1 and Ngamia-1 on Blocks 13T and 10BB in Kenya, respectively. These successful well tests confirmed over 5,000 barrels of oil per day (“BOPD”) flow potential per well and a doubling of the previous estimates of net oil pay. Ekales-1, the next exploration well in the Basin Bounding Fault Play and on trend with Ngamia-1 and Twiga South-1, commenced drilling in July and will be completed in September. The partners say that Transient Pressure Analysis has been conducted on the Twiga South-1 and Ngamia-1 well tests and “no pressure depletion was recorded over the duration of the tests. Flow periods ranged from 0.5 to 2.5 days and build up periods ranged between 3 to 12 days”.
Tullow also announced a new oil discovery at Etuko-1, in Kenya and reported a viable hydrocarbon system with oil and heavy gas shows in Sabisa-1, in Ethiopia. Etuko-1 is located 14 kilometers east of Twiga South-1 in Block 10BB. It is the first test of the Basin Flank Play in the eastern part of the Basin. The well encountered approximately 40 meters of net oil pay in the Auwerwer and Upper Lokhone targets and approximately 50 meters of additional potential net pay in the Lower Lokhone interval. It will be tested later in the year.
Sabisa-1 is the most northerly well drilled on the Tertiary rift trend to date and while the findings are not exactly commercial, the partners are encouraged enough to decide to drill the Tultule-1, which is on tend, as the next well on the South Omo Block. This well is expected to spud around the end of August.
