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Chinese firm used new technology to find oil
Photo/STEPHEN MUDIARI Workers at the oil rig as the drilling of the oil is going on at Ngamia 1 in Turkana county, April 5th, 2012. The discovery of oil in Turkana has caused alot of interest in the region.
Secrets of how oil was found in Turkana are now out.
A Chinese company contracted by Tullow Oil to collect data on rock formations and underground properties in Ngamia 1 had the technology to locate the oil deposits.
The Chinese firm hit Ngamia 1 with huge sound bursts and with special listening devises resulting in them being able to point out the most likely oil hotspots.
“Loaded with the information we were ready to go,” said Mr David Sloan, one of the senior technical people at Tullow Kenya during a media tour of the site on Thursday.
“The use of this advanced and expensive technology — 3D seismic shooting — which had not been used in earlier digs made a major difference,” says Mr Martin Haye, a Commissioner for Petroleum Energy at the Ministry of Energy.
According to the Permanent Secretary in the ministry Patrick Nyoike, it costs about $40,000 (Sh3.2 million) to shoot one square kilometre and you cannot do less that 200 square kilometres.
“This find which was announced by the government last month is largely attributed to these advanced data collection technologies,” Mr Nyoike said on Friday in an advertorial.
But deliberate government policies may also have helped in bringing about the Turkana oil find. According to a brief from Tullow Oil, a recent revision of guidelines on investing in the sector made the country attractive for major players with strong financial and technical exploration capabilities.
Such companies, says PS Nyoike include, Anadarko, BG Group, Total, Tullow Oil, Africa Oil and Ophir. Between June and end of next year, Njoike says some five exploratory wells will have been dug.
Indian Ocean
It is not clear from which side Kenyans should expect the next oil news with Mr Haye optimistic that this may be coming soon from planned offshore drilling at the Indian Ocean by the American outfit called Apache.
But Tullow is already preparing to move to another site in Marsabit County at a place called Papai-1. Already, explained Mr David Hawes who is in charge of drilling operations at Ngamia-1, a platform to place a drilling rig is nearing completion at the Marsabit site.
Last week Environment minister Chirau Mwakwere, hinted that the shooting technology which can be delivered either from a ship, land vibrators or from a light plane will be aggressively deployed in future search for minerals.
Mr Mwakwere said his ministry proposed to spend Sh15 billion for an aerial survey to prospect for more minerals. He said mining was the new frontier in the country’s development but resources were needed to fully open up the sector.
Mr Mwakwere said his ministry had tabled a Bill in Parliament to revise the Mining Act, that will also address the mining hours which the National Environmental Management Authority had set at 8am to 5pm while the country was moving towards a 24-hour economy.
The Ngamia 1 well drilling is a 24-hour operation supported by diesel electricity power generators producing over 1500 horse power. It employs about 200 people and according to Mr Martin Nyoro, the Tallow Kenya general manager, getting competent technical people within the country remained a major challenge.
Actual drilling work, says Tullow Kenya, General Manager Mr Martin Nyoro, took about three months before they struck oil, much earlier than they had expected.
But at the site you do not see the oil, not even smell it, not even a whiff of the black gold even while standing at the foot of the rig that rises to about 140 ft. The oil, explained Mr Howes, is not like a lake but more like the sponge used while bathing. “The act of pressing induces the oil to come out.”
