Tullow Oil PLC has spudded the Ngamia-1 exploratory well on Block 10BB in Kenya.
The Ngamia-1 well is projected to 2,700 m to test the oil potential of Miocene sandstones. The well is in the Lokichar basin, a north-south trending rift basin that is part of the East African Rift System. The Loperot-1 well drilled in 1992 encountered live oil in the Lokichar basin and recovered 29° gravity crude from Miocene sandstones.
The Ngamia-1 well will test a prospect that is similar to oil prospects drilled by Tullow and its partners early in the exploration efforts in the Lake Albert Rift basin of Uganda. The well marks the start of a multiwell program on Block 10BB and adjacent blocks.
Tullow is the operator with a 50% working interest, and Africa Oil Corp., Vancouver, BC, has 50%.