CEPSA, ERHC Hit Dry Well at Kenya’s Block 11A Tarach-1
Earlier reports by OilNews Kenya that the Tarach-1 well in Block 11A was disappointing have now been confirmed with the commissioner for petroleum Martin Heya at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum saying the Spanish explorer Compania Espanola de Petroleos (CEPSA)was a dry well.
According to the commissioner the block operator is yet to furnish the ministry with the technical details of the drilling although it has notified the government on the status of the well.
“We are yet to get the technical details from CEPSA although we already have word that Tarach-1 was a dry well,” Heya told OilNews Kenya.
Results from the Tarach-1 drilled in the north western most block in Kenya and which commenced drilling over five months ago are yet to be made public with the well already having been plugged.
Tarach 1 was drilled from a 20-inch surface casing through intermediate casings down to 2,442 meters and set a seven-inch liner down to total depth (TD) of 3,000 meters with the Tarach-1 prospect’s mean estimate of oil prospective unrisked resources earlier estimated at 66 million barrels.
As per records on exploration and drilling expenses filed by ERHC to the United States Securities And Exchange Commission the two partners used over $25 million of which the American explorer sank $4.5 million.
Also in the interview the commissioner revealed that the block operator CEPSA was considering undertaking new seismic in the block raising hope that the Spanish explorer was yet to exit the block.
With this revelation it is expected that the two joint venture could be discussing a new arrangement that could allow further activity in the block as the earlier agreement only allowed a continued participation by CEPSA only in the case of a hydrocarbons find.
CEPSA had also planned second exploratory well , the Egole-1 a four-way rollover closure onto a Northwest – Southeast trending fault plain with mean prospective resources of 101 million barrels another of 13 drillable prospects.