lamu offshore oil

lamu offshore oil


deepsea oildrilling and exploration

Just weeks after the significant discovery of oil in the Northern part of the country, a Houston based oil and gas exploration company has secured a deep-water drilling ship for giant Mbawa Prospect off Lamu archipelago.Apache Kenya Ltd. who operate and own 50 per cent of the block secured the use of the ship-Deep-sea Metro 1 that will be used to sink a well on the billion barrel Mbawa prospect. The actual date to commence operations is hoped to be in the third quarter of 2012. However, according to Pancontinental, commence of works will depend on when the drilling rig is finished with its current operations. "Apache is anticipating a spud date within Q3 2012, with the actual date depending on when the drilling rig is finished with its current operations," Pancontinental's Chief Executive Officer Barry Rushworth said in a statement. Seismic indicators show what looks like gas-over-oil-over-water at its primary target. Pancontinental estimates that Mbawa has maximum potential to contain 4.9 Billion Barrels of oil and a gas cap of 284 Billion Cubic Feet in place at the main Tertiary- Cretaceous level with significant additional potential also to be tested by the well at the deeper Upper Jurassic level and shallower Tertiary levels. However, only drilling can verify the oil and gas volumetric potential (if any) at the well. Further estimates show that Mbawa has in-place and unrisked potential to contain at the deeper Top Jurassic level of up to 323 Million Barrels oil (P10) or 525 Billion Cubic Feet gas (P10).This however is subject to risks like the fact that there is limited data for reservoir parameters on the East African margin thus there is no control on interpretation of Jurassic carbonates and the lack of a commercial discovery of hydrocarbons in Jurassic carbonates on the East African margin. Water depth over Mbawa is about 800 metres, easily within the range of modern drilling and production technology. The well is expected to take some 45 to 60 days to complete to a planned depth of 3,250m sub-sea in water depth of 860m, easily within the range of modern equipment. The East Africa has become a focus of interest for oil and gas exploration, but a worldwide shortage of rigs threatens to slow growth and increase the cost of operations. Pancontinental who hold 15 per cent of the block has a total of four projects offshore Kenya covering more than 18,000 square kilometres in licence areas L6, L8, L10A and L10B, with the L8 Mbawa project being the most advanced and the first prospect to be drilled.Other partners in the block are Origin Energy Ltd who own 20 per cent and Tullow Oil with a 15 per cent share.

ref: www.pancon.com.au/projects/kenya/lamu-basin-l8-l9