Tullow Oil abandons Kenyan well as no oil found

November 23, 2015 | Exploration / Discoveries, Kenya

But Emesek-1 exploration well provided ‘valuable data’, Tullow says

London, UK |  – A  UK multinational oil and gas exploration company  Tullow Oil announced a decision to withdraw from an exploration well in Northern Kenya in a series of uncommercial operations in Africa.

The Emesek-1 exploration well is located in Block 13T, where Tullow has a 50 per cent stake and partner  Africa Oil  Corporation the remaining 50 per cent. The exploration well reached a total depth of 3,000 metres without finding commercial hydrocarbons.

“The Emesek-1 well was the first well to be drilled in the North Lokichar basin,” said Angus McCoss, exploration director with Tullow Oil. While this wildcat well did not find commercial hydrocarbons, it provides valuable data as we assess the wider prospectivity of this basin.”

The company’s stocks plunged to a seven-year low after the October announcements as expectations for the company’s exploration activities dampened.

A brief rise on Monday following the global rise in oil prices caused by supply disruption concerns in the Middle East added 8.9 pence to the company’s share price.

The abandonment follows an October announcement of two more dry wells in Gabon. A 75 percent budget cut reduced the company’s exploration financing with $250 million since mid-2014, limiting the extent of its operations.

Tullow’s lack of progress in Kenya dates to 2013, when it requested to move to a new exploration site in the same basin but met with the opposition of locals. The 3,000-metre Emesek-1 well will now be plugged and exploration activities will move to the South Lokichar basin to drill the Etom-2 well.