Tullow to restart Kenyan exploration, appraisal next month

Tullow Oil will restart exploration and appraisal drilling at Kenya’s prolific South Lokichar field next month where it saw an upside potential of over 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil, a senior official said on Tuesday.

“A recent 3-D survey shows additional upside potential,” Tim O’Hanlon, vice president for Tullow Oil’s Africa business told an oil and gas conference in Cape Town.

Tullow Oil, which has its main production assets in Ghana, also has exploration acreage in Mauritania, Namibia and Zambia.

O’Hanlon said in Uganda, where it had 1.7 billion barrels of oil to develop, Tullow Oil was targeting an export pipeline capable of taking 200-230,000 bpd to Tanga port in Tanzania.

He said front-end engineering and design of the pipeline will start next year and a final investment decision was expected in 2018.