Tullow Oil PLC said its Ngamia-1 exploratory well onshore Kenya has encountered a total of more than 100 m of oil pay over a gross oil-bearing interval of 650 m in multiple zones.
Samples of oil of greater than 30° gravity have been recovered to surface from the most recently drilled section that have properties similar to the light, waxy crude encountered in the upper reservoir zone, the company said.
Ngamia-1, on Block 10BB, has been drilled to 1,515 m and is to continue to 2,700 m. Plans are being put in place to drill stem test the well although the exact timing is yet to be decided. Tullow operates Block 10BB with 50% interest. Africa Oil Corp. has the other 50%.
Ngamia is the first prospect to be tested as part of a multiwell campaign in Kenya and Ethiopia. Many leads and prospects similar to Ngamia have been identified, Tullow said. Tullow has proposed to the Kenya government an increase in 2D seismic acquisition and the sourcing of a second rig.
The Weatherford 804 rig will next move 31 km to Tullow-operated Block 13T, where the Twiga-1 wildcat, formerly Mbango-A, is to spud in the second half of 2012. The second rig will drill the Tullow-operated Paipai prospect on Block 10A in Marsabit County.
Tullow has a 50% operated interest in seven onshore licenses in the Kenya and Ethiopia rift basins covering a combined area of more than 100,000 sq km. The basin where the Ngamia discovery has been made is one of seven basins mapped in Tullow’s acreage and is similar in size to the Lake Albert Rift Basin in Uganda.
Alan Petzet | Chief Editor Exploration
Alan Petzet is Chief Editor-Exploration of Oil & Gas Journal in Houston. He is editor of the Weekly E&D Newsletter, emailed to OGJ subscribers, and a regular contributor to the OGJ Online subscriber website.
Petzet joined OGJ in 1981 after 13 years in the Tulsa World business-oil department. He was named OGJ Exploration Editor in 1990. A native of Tulsa, he has a BA in journalism from the University of Tulsa.