Tullow, ministry deny oil discovery report

Tullow, ministry deny oil discovery report

The British oil company, Tullow, and the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines denied media reports that claim that Tullow has discovered oil in the South Omo Valley.

A US based website, Energy and Capital, this week reported that Tullow has discovered oil in Ethiopia. However, executives of Tullow have completely denied the news report. The executives who labeled the report as baseless said that drilling work has been going on but no oil has been yet found.

“Tullow Ethiopia wishes to clarify its position with regard to oil exploration in South Omo zone of the Southern Nation Nationality and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR.) This follows a confusing and poorly written report on one website in the USA which suggested in its headline that Tullow had discovered oil in Ethiopia,” the oil company said in a statement sent to The Reporter.

Commenting on the issue, country manager of Tullow Ethiopia, Petros Abebe, said:

"The Sabisa-1 well is being drilled currently and no report has been issued by Tullow or our partners on our progress or whether hydrocarbons have been found. We expect to have the results from the well within the next two months, at which point we will issue a statement that will be available on our website and through international media. No update will be given before the results are known and have been fully evaluated.”

“With regard to articles published, it is always best to check in with Tullow especially as, in this case, we had made no statement ourselves as a cursory check of our website would have shown. Furthermore, the article itself did not state that oil had been found - it was the headline that was misleading and I note that this headline has since been changed,” the company added.

The company said its spokespersons in Addis, Nairobi and London are always available to answer enquiries either by telephone or email.

Minister of Mines, Sinkenesh Ejigu on Thursday said that the news report released by some websites and newspapers are inaccurate. Sinkenesh said that because of the fruitful results Tullow achieved in Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, distorted media reports are being released.

“There is ongoing exploration work. The company plans to drill three exploration wells in South Omo and currently it is drilling the first well. At a point where even drilling on the first exploration well is not finalised there is no new development to announce,” Sinkinesh said.

Sinekesh said Tullow is a reliable company that undertakes the exploration work properly, adding that the company spends 50 million dollars on each exploration well.  

Tullow is an independent oil and gas, exploration and production group, quoted on the London, Irish and Ghanaian stock exchanges. The group has interests in over 100 exploration and production licences across 23 countries which are managed as three regional business units: West and North Africa, South and East Africa and Europe, South America and Asia. Tullow has a fifty percent stake in the South Omo concession while Africa Oil, the Vancouver based company, and Marathon Oil, US company, has 30 and 20 percent respectively.

Tullow discovered oil reserves in Ghana, Uganda and more recently in neighbouring Kenya. Last month the company announced that it started drilling on the first exploration well called Sabisa1. Tullow anticipates drilling a 2600 meters deep well and currently it is at about 1500 meters.

The company previously said the drilling operation comes after an extensive 18-month seismic campaign, which also included one of the world’s largest airborne gravity surveys covering approximately 18,000 km.  The results of this seismic activity helped to determine the location of Tullow’s first exploration well in the South Omo Block. A Polish drilling contractor, OGEC, is conducting the drilling operation, which commenced on January 14.

Senior executives of Tullow Oil last week came to Addis Ababa from London, the headquarters of the company. The executives met and discussed Tullow’s ongoing exploration project with the Minister of Mines.

An independent oil expert told The Reporter that the fact that Tullow discovered oil in Kenya has made speculations on Sabisa-1 rife.

“Unless you drill and see what is stored underground there is no way that you can tell whether or not there is oil just by looking at seismic data,” the expert said. “So far there is no technology that enables you to determine a place where there is oil without drilling. Seismic data and satellite pictures play significant roles in oil exploration work but they cannot enable you to know the result without drilling and testing a well. Even after discovery, the reserve estimate work (appraisal) could take two to three years.” However, sources told The Reporter that BGP Geo Services, the Chinese company contracted by Tullow collected promising seismic data from Tullow’s concession near Omorate. Sources said executives of Tullow expect positive drilling results. In addition to Sabisa-1, Tullow plans to drill two more exploration wells in its concession near Chewbahir.

Source The reporter