Kenya expects its crude oil resources to rise to over to 1 billion barrels due to ongoing appraisal drilling, an official from the Ministry of Energy said Monday.
Six million barrels of oil have been discovered jointly by Tullow Oil and Africa Oil Corporation in the South Lokichar basin in northwestern Kenya from March 2012 when the country's first crude oil encounter was announced.
Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir said Ekales, the Ageta Amosing and Ewoi wells drilled in block 10BB and 13T in the remote Turkana county had raised Kenya's recoverable resources to 600 million from 300 barrels.
"However, with further appraisal drilling which is currently ongoing, the recoverable reserves are likely to be in excess of 1 billion barrels. Tullow has already commenced work on a commercialization plan which will culminate in a field development plan by last quarter of 2015," he said.
"In readiness, the ministry has also advertised an expression of interest for the crude oil pipeline from Hoima, Uganda to Lamu port through Lokichar," said Chirchir. The governments of Kenya and Uganda are accelerating plans to build a crude oil export pipeline to Lamu on the Indian Ocean.
Building of 1,300-km (806-mile) pipeline from Hoima in western Uganda through Lokichar in northwestern Kenya to Lamu is expected start in late 2015 and be completed in 2018.
Chirchir said the Sala-1 well drilled by Africa Oil in block 9 in north eastern Kenya is capable of producing approximately 1 Tcf of gas, enough to produce 550 MW of electricity for 20 years.
"Ministry of Energy is planning to construct a gas power plant in the block to increase electricity generation and help monetize the resource," he said.
Africa Oil and Marathon each own 50% of block 9.
The ministry expects more resources to be found after Africa Oil and Marathon complete the current drilling of the Sala-2 appraisal well and move to the Sala-3 appraisal well to assess the amount of gas in place.
