Zarara Oil and Gas to spud in Block L4 by June 2017
Zarara Oil and Gas which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Midway Resources International (MRI) will be spudding in Block L4 by end of the first half n 2017 having postponed their earlier schedule of Q2 2016 OilNews Kenya has learnt.
According to our source the company which also doubles as the operator has already completed the Environmental Social Impact Assessment field work in both blocks L4 and L13 as Zarara prepares to drill the Pate-2 well on the Pate-1 natural gas discovery. The ESIA was carried out by ESF consultants a regional Environmental Management firm with regional offices in Nairobi Kenya.
“ESF Consultants comes on board to support Zarara Oil and Gas in acquisition of permitting requirements for their exploration drilling campaign in Kenya Blocks L4 and L13,”ESF says in a statement.
Following the field work completions the company will proceed to make available the final report after which it expects to receive its ESIA from the National Environmental Management Authority.
Earlier in the year ESF was commissioned by Tullow Oil to undertake ESIA and stakeholder disclosure/engagements in Kenya’s Block 12A.
OilNews Kenya has further learnt that the company has contracted Norwegian company North Sea Well Engineering Limited (Norwell Engineering) as the design and planning company that will ensure everything goes as plotted. Among its first chores will be the deciding of the road route as well identifying and considering ports and jetties that will be utilized in the process.
Norwell Engineering was also involved in design and planning at the Badada-1 well in the Anza basin.
Zarara Oil and Gas is currently enjoying an 18 month license extension through to June 2017, to the First Additional Exploration Period on both of the production sharing contracts.
Blocks L4 and L13 are believed to be gas prone acreage that have in the past seen discoveries by Shell/BP and are valued to have current estimated unrisked volumes of gas in place of 1.5TcF capable of supporting a 900MW combined cycle gas turbine power station for 25 years .
Kenya MRI owns a 75% working interest and operatorship (via its 100% subsidiary, Zarara Oil & Gas Limited) in two production sharing contracts over Blocks L4 and L13 while partner Swiss Oil Holdings Ltd holds (15%) and the balance of 10% being a carried interest of the Government of Kenya