Kenya: Mbawa Drilling to Start in Q3 2012, Pancontinental Says

Pancontinental, a petroleum (oil and gas / hydrocarbon) exploration company with key assets in Australia, Kenya, Malta and Namibia, says on its website that preparations for drilling on the Mbawa Prospect are proceeding as planned. Pancontinental’s best estimate for the drill date is during or before Q3 2012.

Pancontinental has a 15% interest in L8 and will be “free- carried” through Mbawa drilling by Tullow Oil plc, up to a “cap” of US$ 9 million.

Mbawa prospect, offshore Kenya, coincides with interpreted natural oil slicks derived from sea floor “pockmarks” associated with faulting on the flank of the structure. As well as Mbawa, other prospects in L8 also have high volumetric potential and are also associated with interpreted slicks. Water depth over Mbawa is about 800 metres, easily within the range of modern drilling and production equipment.

After Mbawa, the next largest prospect is Nanaa Central with approximately 40% of Mbawa’s volumetric potential. Nanaa Central would provide an additional commercial opportunity after any Mbawa discovery. The interpreted extensive deep oil and gas generating “kitchen” near the Mbawa Prospect extends to the north into area L6 and south into L10A and L10B. While there can be no direct evidence that the Mbawa Prospect contains any oil or gas until drilling has taken place, based on volumetric estimates indicating that, if filled to spill point and subject to risks that include trap integrity and the fact that the offshore Lamu Basin petroleum system is unproven, Pancontinental estimates Mbawa has in-place and  unrisked potential to contain at the Tertiary- Cretaceous level –

• up to 4.9 Billion Barrels of oil (P10) plus

• a gas cap of 284 Billion Cubic Feet (P10)

Further, Pancontinental estimates that Mbawa has in-place and unrisked potential to contain at the deeper Top Jurassic level –

• up to 323 Million Barrels oil (P10) or

• 525 Billion Cubic Feet gas (P10)

but these are subject to risks that include the fact that there is limited data for reservoir parameters on the East African margin, there is no control on interpretation of Jurassic carbonates and the lack of a commercial discovery of  hydrocarbons in Jurassic carbonates on the East African margin.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff , November 28, 2011; Image: Pancontinental