Tullow Oil has confirmed that it struck oil in its Turkana oil field. The discovery was made last year but the company had said it would give a briefing on the progress in May. The confirmation was done by President Mwai Kibaki.
Even better, this is light crude oil as compared to Uganda’s heavy crude that is usually solid at room temperature. Tullow is the same company that discovered oil in Uganda. In stunning fashion, the fortunes of once vast and desolate wasteland that is Turkana seem to be changing by the day.
In the same county, Africa’s largest wind farm project is to be built to generate 300MW of power that will be transmitted to the national grid. Geothermal potential is being explored with indications that we could get substantial energy there. The massive LAPSSET project is set to pass there with rail, road and pipeline. Tullow Oil shares were boosted by the announcement in London.
Tullow’s exploration director Angus McCoss said: “This is an excellent start to our major exploration campaign in the East African rift basins of Kenya and Ethiopia. To make such a good oil discovery in our first well is beyond our expectations and bodes well for the material programme ahead of us.”
