Oil firm hits dry well in Ntoroko

Journalists with oil experts at Ngege-7 oil well last Friday. CNOOC has failed to find viable oil deposits in Kanywataba-1 well in Ntoroko District. PHOTO BY FRANCIS MUGERWA

What you need to know:

Oil experts say they have drilled Kanywataba-1 well but did not find hydro carbons, denying the country a chance to have more oil deposits in the region.

NTOROKO

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), one of the oil production partners with Tullow Oil, has hit a dry well in Ntoroko District.

The development comes as citizens await the benefits of the oil discovered in the Albertine Graben. “CNOOC has drilled Kanywataba-1 well. It has not encountered hydro carbons” Mr Dozith Abenomugisha, the acting Principal Geologist in the Energy Ministry’s Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD), told a team of journalists at the closure of their two-day visit to selected oil exploration sites in the Albertine graben on Saturday.

The Energy ministry, Uganda Wildlife Authority and National Environmental Management Authority officials led a team of more than 30 journalists to oil sites in Buliisa District and in the Murchison Falls National Park on Friday and Saturday to assess the progress of oil developments in the country.

Although Uganda has enjoyed back-to-back oil discoveries in the Albertine Graben, CNOOC’s first exploration well in Uganda has been unsuccessful.

Oil explorers have drilled 68 wells in the Albertine basin out of which 61 had commercially viable deposits. Oil experts have confirmed that the Albertine graben has more than 2.5 billion barrels of oil of which 1 billion is recoverable in next 20 or so years.

“The disappointment of the first well is compensated by the fact that it already has the Kingfisher field that has already been appraised and is being prepared for production,” Mr Abenomugisha added. He said CNOOC has abandoned the Kanywataba-1 well and is restoring it before heading to the Kingfisher oil field.
Shell Oil conducted the first ever exploration in Semuliki in 1938. And later by Heritage Oil around 2001.

According to PEPD, Status of Licensing January 2012, Kanywataba Prospect Area is 171 square kilometre in size.
The Kingfisher oil field which is located in Hoima District was discovered by Heritage Oil and has been confirmed to have oil deposits.

Mr Abeinomugisha said reports of the unsuccessful discovery have been confirmed by CNOOC and government oil experts who participated in the drilling.

“We receive daily reports from government monitors and the operator. Therefore all this information is with government,” Mr Abeinomugisha said. According to the company’s official website, CNOOC is China’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas and one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world.

The firm mainly engages in exploration, development, production and sales of oil and natural gas. Incorporated in May 2010, CNOOC Uganda Limited is an overseas branch of CNOOC Limited. CNOOC Uganda Limited is the operator of Kingfisher Discovery Area and Kanywataba Prospect Area located in Hoima and Ntoroko District.