Oil absent at Tullow Oil's Uganda exploration well

21st Feb 2013 07:06

Oil producer Tullow Oil has undertaken exploration at a well in Uganda and admitted that no hydrocarbons were found present.The FTSE 100-listed company reported that exploration drilling had continued in the Total-operated EA-1A block to the north of Lake Albert, with the Ondyek-1 exploration well, located 16km northwest of the Nigiri-1 oil discovery.The well, designed to test the boundary limits of the EA-1A block, was drilled to a total depth of 1,462m.The company reported: "The well did not encounter hydrocarbons and has been plugged and abandoned."It added that further evaluatuion was being carried out on the Lyec- discovery and said that partners were re-evaluating the remaining exploration potential of the area in light of recent well results.A separate testing programme carried out at a project in Kenya showed a constrained combined rate of 2,812 barrels of oil per day from three reservoir zones.The company added that two additional zones were also tested in the tight reservoir rock at the base of the well and both produced at sub-commercial rates but confirmed the presence of movable oil. Angus McCoss, Exploration Director of Tullow Oil, said: "While it is still early days for our exploration campaign in Kenya, these flow tests results at Twiga South-1 are an important step on the way towards understanding the commercial potential of the two discoveries we have made so far. "The Ondyek-1 well in Uganda did not encounter hydrocarbons, but has contributed much to our understanding of the limits of the EA-1A block."MF