Africa Oil Discovers Oil at Ekales Prospect in Kenya
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Sept. 26, 2013) - Africa Oil Corp. ("Africa Oil" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:AOI)(OMX:AOI) is pleased to announce that the Ekales well has discovered oil in Block 13T in Kenya Petrophysical analysis of wireline logs and formation sampling indicates a potential pay zone of
60 to 100 meters which will be confirmed by flow testing. This discovery further de-risks and represents the fourth consecutive significant oil find in this basin. The well is located in Block 13T in Kenya and the Company holds a 50% working interest with operator Tullow Oil Kenya holding the remaining interest and operatorship.
The Company is also pleased to update progress on four additional exploration wells in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The Agete-1 well, also in Block 13T, was spud on September 16 and is currently drilling ahead. This prospect is 7 kilometers north of the Twiga discovery and along the basin bounding fault trend referred to as the string of pearls by the Company. It has a pre-drill prospective resource best estimate of 276 million barrels of recoverable oil with a chance of success of 54% (Gaffney, Cline & Associates July 31, 2013).
The Bahasi-1 well in the Kenya Block 9 Bahasi prospect is expected to spud in the next few days and Africa Oil will operate this well on behalf of its 50% joint venture partner Marathon Kenya Limited B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO), utilizing the Great Wall drilling rig #190. The prospect is a large anticlinal feature in the Lower Cretaceous Anza rift and is on trend with the Paipai discovery made early this year in Kenya Block 10A. The pre-drill prospective resource best estimate of this prospect is 320 million barrels of recoverable oil (Gaffney, Cline & Associates July 31, 2013). Under the terms of the farmout agreement, Marathon Oil will pay for drilling this well.
The Tutule-1 well was spud on September 21 in the South Omo Block in Ethiopia and will test the Tertiary rift play in a well-defined horst block feature adjacent to, and 4 kilometers east, of the recently drilled Sabisa-1 well which proved the basic elements of a hydrocarbon system including reservoir, seal and source. Partners in the South Omo block are Tullow Oil as operator (50% working interest), Africa Oil (30% working interest) and Marathon Ethiopia Limited B.V., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corporation (20% working interest).
The El Kuran well is being operated by New African Global Energy and is expected to spud in October. It is a Jurassic fractured carbonate play on a large anticlinal feature that had previously been drilled by Tenneco in the early 1970's and had tested light oil at low rates. The primary goal of this well is to prove commercial flow rates. Based on the results of the initial well, fracture stimulation and horizontal drilling may be considered.
Two additional lightweight rigs for testing and shallow drilling operations are also being mobilized into northern Kenya and are expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2013 will bring the total rig count to seven in the Company's blocks in Kenya and Ethiopia. A Full Tensor Gradiometry ("FTG") survey is also currently underway in the Company's wholly owned Rift Basin Area in Ethiopia and is expected to be completed in October.
Africa Oil CEO Keith Hill commented, "We are thrilled with the 100% success rate of the drilling program to date in northern Kenya and with 10 additional leads and prospects in this basin we can expect additional discoveries in the immediate future. We are equally excited about the basin opening wells being drilled in two new areas and the pace of exploration ahead with 6 active rigs operating full time. This discovery gives us further incentive to aggressively push forward plans for development studies of this world class project in conjunction with our partners and the Government of Kenya."
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