Lamu, KENYA: The gas drilling expedition in Lamu’s Pate island is currently at 300 metres,three weeks since commencement.
Zarara Oil and Gas Limited, a subsidiary of Midway Resources International announced commencement of the Sh 2.5 billion gas exploration on April this year.
Speaking in Lamu on Thursday,Zarara Oil and Gas Country Manager Peter Nduru said drilling of the Pate-2 well top hole was now complete.
He said they were now awaiting the arrival of a bigger rig from Tunisia that will now enable them continue drilling up to 4,500 metres down in search of gas.
Nduru however cited several setbacks among the heavy downpour witnessed in the region for the last several weeks for hindering the transportation of equipment to the drilling site in Pate.
The drilling is being conducted on block L4 and L13 all of which are located close to the Sh 25 trillion Lamu Port-LAPSSET at Kililana area in Lamu West.
While making the announcenment for commencement of drilling in April,Nduru had indicated that the company had contracted a top-hole drilling rig from Drilling Spares & Services Limited, an experienced Kenyan drilling company, to drill and run a 20-inch casing for both Pate-2 and Pate-3 wells to 300 metres.
“Pate -2 top hole drilling to 300 metres is complete. We are waiting for the big rig which is now at the Port in Tunisia waiting loading onto ship. We would be very far but the heavy rains and flooded roads have delayed delivery of some heavy equipment to the drilling site in Pate, Lamu East. Once it arrives, the big rig will enable drilling up to 4,500 metres down,” said Nduru.
Nduru said the drilling is taking place onshore and that they had ensured all activities in the processs remain environmentally friendly.
“I have heard people speaking of oil spillage and such like things.Let them know that we are only drilling gas and that’s why its happening onshore,”said Nduru.
The expedition at Pate follows a four-year evaluation programme undertaken by Zarara Oil and Gas Limited which included acquisition, processing and interpretation of extensive block-wide gravity-magnetics data, the acquisition, processing and interpretation of 400-kilometre line of transition zone 2D seismic over the original Pate-1 discovery area, and integration of the new data and analyses with the available historical regional exploration seismic and drilling data.
