Canadian firm on schedule with oil exploration in Northern Kenya

AFRICA OIL REPORTED TULLOW OIL OPERATED NGAMIA-1 WELL ON BLOCK 10BB IN KENYA IS CURRENTLY AT A DEPTH OF 1,040 METERS. THERE ARE NO RESULTS TO REPORT AT THIS TIME.

NAIROBI (Xinhua) -- Canadian oil and gas exploration firm Africa Oil has said its Tullow-oil operated well in Kenya and Horn Petroleum-operated oil well in Somalia are drilling ahead of the target depths.

Africa Oil reported the Tullow Oil operated Ngamia-1 well on Block 10BB in Kenya is currently at a depth of 1,040 meters.

It’s drilling ahead to a planned target depth of approximately 2,700 meters.

There are no results to report at this time, it said in a statement received in Nairobi on Tuesday.

The firm begun spudding Ngamia-1 well in January which is located in the Lokichar basin, a north-south trending rift basin that is part of the East African Rift System.

It said then that the spudding marked the start of a multiwell program on Block 10BB and adjacent blocks in the east African nation.

"We are very excited to be drilling our first well with Tullow.

"They have had enormous success with the Lake Albert Rift Basin project where in excess of 1 billion barrels have been discovered and this shares many geological similarities with our Kenyan assets," Keith Hill, CEO of Africa Oil said in Jan. 24.

Hill said the prospects of the Ngamia-1 well which will be drilled to a projected depth of 2,700 meters to test the oil potential in Miocene age sandstones could be a play opener for another great success in the region.

Kenya has never made any substantive commercial oil discoveries despite ongoing oil exploration that started in the east African nation in the early 1930s and later picked off in the 1950s.

The Canadian oil firm also reported the Horn Petroleum operated Shabeel-1 well on the Dharoor Block in Puntland, Somalia, is currently at a depth of 2,383 meters.

It’s drilling ahead to a planned target depth of approximately 3,800 meters, the statement said, adding there are no results to report at this time.

Africa Oil has assets in Kenya, Ethiopia and Mali as well as Puntland in Somalia through its 51 percent equity interest in Horn Petroleum Corporation, the statement said.