Tuesday March 29, 2022
Mlima-1, the well in the Lamu Basin, off Kenya’s Indian
Ocean coast recently touted as the country’s first offshore oil strike, is
commercially unviable.
Results of the exploration released by Italian energy group
Eni, show that the well proved nonviable and was to be “plugged” and
“abandoned,” after it failed to hit commercial oil reserves.
The result has dealt a blow to Kenya’s hopes of being a
commercial offshore oil-producing country. While production was years off even
in the event of a big oil discovery, the latest results have killed Kenya’s
dreams of exploiting what is believed to be huge offshore oil and gas deposits
for now.
Geological and seismic surveys show that between four
billion and 4.5 billion barrels of oil could be laying deep under the waters of
the Indian Ocean. Early data had indicated the existence of oil reserves, what
is technically referred to as ‘‘an active petroleum system’’ in the area.
The well in the Lamu Basin had been widely tipped to offer
Kenya another chance at becoming an oil producer, a decade after British
exploration firm Tullow Oil made Kenya’s first oil find in Turkana County’s
South Lokichar sub-basin, which is yet to be commercialised.
The Eni well is located approximately 170km from the coast,
underneath the ocean seabed where Eni has been prospecting and drilling for
oil. Eni’s drillship, SAIPEM 12000, has been on location within Block L11B
since late December 2021.