Drilling to Increase off Kenyan Coastline

The Kenyan government, in a move by the Ministry of Energy, published an official gazette recently announcing notice of eight new offshore sites. With these eight new sites the total number of exploration blocks in the country is now 46. With the increase in oil and gas exploration off the Kenyan coastline, corporations are jockeying to negotiate with the government. These negotiations will be for the rights to explore the area with depths between 3,000 and 4,000 meters.  The Australian company FAR is slated to raise $15.04 million to fund oil and gas exploration off the Kenyan coast. Funding for the company will be raised through the placement of 280 million shares, and will allow FAR to maintain equity interest in 2 blocks that are close to an area of recent major offshore gas discoveries.

In 2011contract deals in East Africa including five with corporations came in over $250 million combined. That total more than doubled the number in 2010. To date four large 3D seismic surveys have been completed in Kenya. Experts believe East Africa will become more attractive to India and China with increased discoveries. Pancontinental has announced plans to drill off the coastline over the next year. The firm currently has four exploration licenses and will begin drilling in block L6.  In a released statement Pancontinental said that it is currently seeking new rigs. "Operator Apache is examining the availability of drilling rigs that are suitable for drilling the Mbawa prospect. A suitable rig and the Mbawa drilling date will be set after further discussion with rig operators."

Kenya is part of a petroleum basin about 1000 km north of Mozambique. The area has similar geology to others that have proven to be areas of gas and oil discoveries. The Nana 3D seismic survey was recently completed in area L8 by Apache Corp. Processing of data is slated to be completed this year.