The Ngamia 1 Oil Well in Turkana, Kenya, has stalled due to Africa Oil running out of cash for funding. The Canadian explorer holds a 25% stake in the Turkana exploration venture.
The firm told investors that it was looking for a strategic investor. More so, to help it implement a development plan for oil production in Turkana. However, the firm maintains that it still honors all of its current financial obligations when it comes to the project.
The Ngamia 1 Oil Well location is right within the South Lokichar Basin. Once production begins, the oil well could potentially produce well up to 120,000 barrels per day. The project’s initial discovery in Block 10BB and 13T in Turkana was announced in March 2012.
Reported On May 16, 2014
Kenya’s Ngamia 1 oil well could generate US$ 10bn annually
A consultancy firm has estimated Kenya’s oil from the Ngamia 1 oil well will generate a whopping US$10bn annually. Thereby increasing the growth of the country’s economy. Additionally, it would boost the GDP growth by an extra 0.83% point. GlobalData, a London-based research and consulting firm said that the money from block 10BB/13T alone over a 30-year production period.
Britain’s Tullow Oil and African Oil of Canada have successfully hit a series of wells on blocks that they operate in Turkana, northern Kenya. The companies say that they still cannot tell the amount of oil which they can explore from the wells but they foresee excellent yields.
The Ngamia structure is the first prospect test as part of a multi-well drilling campaign in Kenya and Ethiopia. Many leads and prospects similar to Ngamia have been identified and following this discovery the outlook for further success has significantly improved.
Jun 2014
More oil discovered in Kenya
Africa Oil, a Canadian exploration company, has discovered oil in Kenya about two km from where Tullow Oil discovered the first successful well in Kenya. The discovery raises the prospect of Kenya becoming an oil and gas producer.
Angus McCoss, exploration director at Tullow said that the success of the Turkana Ngamia-2 exploratory appraisal well builds on the major basin opening discovery well, Ngamia-1, and the reservoirs were of similar quality. Further, in a statement sent by its partner Tullow, Africa Oil said the well has been suspended for testing but four other additional appraisal wells would be drilled in the Ngamia area for an extended well test program.
This comes a few days after Pancontinental Oil and Gas NL, an Australian oil exploration firm, confirmed that it had completed Sunbird well in Block L10A off the Kenyan coast near Lamu County and intersected a column, making it the first-ever oil discovery off the East African coast.
Kenya has discovered commercial quantities of the product, but the commerciality of the gas find at offshore to the east African coast is yet to be determined. The Lokichar Basin in Turkana is estimated to have about a billion barrels of reserves. More companies are also expected to do exploration for the product in the country.
Jun 2018
Kenya launches pilot oil export scheme via Mombasa
Kenya has launched a pilot scheme to export crude oil via Mombasa as part of efforts to capitalize on the country’s oil reserves.
That agreement is a way for the passage of a law on petroleum production, which will enable Tullow Oil, which operates the Kenyan fields, to start shipping oil that has been in storage tanks for a year.
The national government and the regional administration of the northwestern Turkana region agreed last month on revenue sharing that will come into force when production reaches full capacity by 2022.
Project benefits
According to Deputy President William Ruto, the benefits of the project will be shared without leaving anyone behind. He was speaking at the launch of the export initiative which will transport 2,000 barrels to Mombasa by road for shipment each day.
Tullow has hired Wood Group to design the pipeline needed to bring crude from Lokichar’s onshore fields to a port in Lamu along the Indian Ocean coast.
The commercial oil reserves in its Lokichar basin were discovered in 2012 and the 800 km pipeline is due to be built before production starts in 2021/22. According to the company, the cost of the pipeline is about US $1.1bn, with a further US $2.9bn for upstream operations. Tullow added that the Amosing and Ngamia fields in the basin have estimated contingent resources of about 560m barrels.
