the albertine graben is proving to be a successful

The status of oil exploration
from Newvision

Uganda’s petroleum exploration programme in the Western Rift Valley area (The Albertine Graben) is proving to be a successful venture. Six deep wells have been drilled so far: Three wells in Semliki area of Bundibugyo and three wells in the Kaiso Tonya Area of Hoima District.

All the six wells drilled encountered hydrocarbons with varying degrees of success. The three wells drilled in Kaiso-Tonya area are: Waraga 1, Mputa I and Mputa II, and are being flow tested for oil and the chemical compositions determined.

Tests on Waraga-1 are now complete. The flow tests have been extremely good. Whereas it was originally estimated that the three identified hydrocarbons bearing layers (levels) would flow between 500-1000 barrels of oil per day, the actual flow was 4,200 barrels of oil per day for the two lower zones and 3,700 barrels per day for the upper shallow zone.

The oil in Waraga-1 well has been analysed and found to be of good quality with American Petroleum Institute (API) measure of 33.80 for the two lower zones and API of 18.60 for the upper zone. The oil is sulphur free, which is a good sign. However, it has a relatively high pour point (390c) meaning that it solidifies at room temperature.

This year is a turning point in Uganda’s oil exploration and development industry. It must be emphasised that the heavy investment in manpower development and institutional capacity building has been the driver for our success. However, there is now need to address challenges, which are being brought up by the new opportunity.

Information available from the technical surveys carried out by government and the oil companies shows that there are several prospects (potential oil fields) in both the Northern and Southern part of Lake Albert Exploration Areas and in Pakwach Basin.

In particular, Exploration Area 2 has Ngassa, Nzizi and Ngambwa Prospects; Exploration Area 3A has KingFisher and Pelkan; and Exploration Area 3B has Turaco, Coucal and Ibiss prospects. The focus over the next five years is to drill those prospects so that we can establish their petroleum potential, just like what is going on in Mputa and Waraga prospects. I wish to note here that Heritage has already embarked on the drilling programme in Buhuka area at the boundary of Hoima and Kibaale Districts.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/459/519282