13 August 2012, Sweetcrude, NAIROBI – US independent Apache has spudded the Mbawa oil prospect in deepwater, off the coast of Kenya.
Partners on the project, Pancontinental Oil and Gas, said it expects the drill ship, Deepsea Metro 1, to reach a total depth of 3250 metres in a water depth of 864 metres in the next 60 days.
The Mbawa prospect has pre-drill resource potential of 4.9 billion barrels of oil in place at the main Tertiary/Cretaceous reservoir level with additional potential at a deeper target and at a shallower level.
Huge gas discoveries have been made off east Africa in Tanzania and Mozambique, but Pancontinental said it believes there is an extensive oil-prone “sweet spot” offshore Kenya.
Apache holds a 50% stake in the L8 joint venture, where it is also the operator, while its partners are Origin Energy (20%), Tullow Oil (15%) and Pancontinental (15%).
