Tullow Oil Budgets $225M in Kenya’s Pre-development, Exploration and Appraisal Expenditure in 2017

Tullow Oil has announced that it will set aside $225M of the $500M Group’s capital expenditure to Kenya’s Pre-development, Exploration and Appraisal Expenditure this year.

This expenditure is expected to be broken into $100M of pre-development expenditure and $125 million of Exploration and Appraisal spend.

The new figures show a continued decrease in expenditure by the company $1 billion in exploration expenditure in 2014 to $200 million in 2015, $100 million in exploration and appraisal budget and  $150 million pre-development expenditure in 2016 to the current  figures.

Tullow oil which is currently drilling the Erut-1 well in Kenya says it will then proceed to drill Amosing-6, a well targeting undrilled volumes, before moving to Ngamia-10, an appraisal well to the south of the Ngamia discovery.

The wildcat Etete prospect approximately 2km south of the Etom field is the last of the four wells expected in 2017 although the company may consider extending the programme by up to four additional wells in 2017, depending upon the assessment of the results from the initial four wells.

Tullow Oil has further reported that water injection trials have been successfully completed on the Amosing discovery in the South Lokichar Basin with data collected showing the viability of water injection for development planning. A similar programme of water injection tests on the Ngamia discovery are scheduled to commence later this month.

Work continues on the Early Oil Pilot Scheme expected to commence in March, full field development planning and the export pipeline.

The company also set aside .$90 million in capital expenditure for Ghana while Uganda’s $125M will be offset by the Uganda farm-down deferred consideration.

Meanwhile the company has announced new board changes that will see Paul McDade, currently Chief Operating Officer appointed Chief Executive Officer as from April 2017 and Aidan Heavey,currently Chief Executive Officer and founder of Tullow Oil take over as non-executive Chairman.

“With Aidan as Chairman, Paul and Tullow will continue to benefit from the founder’s years of experience and deep understanding of the relationships that underpin our business in Africa,” says outgoing chairman Simon Thompson.

Paul McDade joined Tullow in 2001 and became Chief Operating Officer in 2004. In this role he has been a key member of the Executive team. Mr. McDade was appointed to Tullow’s Board in 2006 and has over 30 years’ experience in the oil and gas sector and has previously worked in various operational, commercial and management roles with Conoco, Lasmo and ERC. He holds degrees in Civil Engineering and Petroleum Engineering from Strathclyde University, Glasgow and Imperial College, London.