British company Tullow Oil has discovered more crude oil in Kenya, igniting confidence that the East African country’s recoverable reserves could top one-billion barrels.

Barely a few months before the country embarks on small-scale crude production, Tullow Oil has announced the discovery of more oil at the Erut-1 well, in the Turkana basin, in the north of the country.

“This is an exciting discovery from a bold exploration well that proves that oil has migrated to the northern limits of the South Lokichar basin,” says Tiullow Oil exploration director Angus McCoss.

He adds that the discovery extends the known hydrocarbon limits of the Turkana basin beyond the successful Etom discovery into the underexplored northern part of the basin, where the company has several undrilled prospects.

The latest find involved vertical drilling of the Erut-1 well through 25 m of rock reservoir holding oil, which is equivalent to 25 m of net oil pay. The oil was discovered at a depth of 700 m and Tullow Oil intends to continue drilling to a final depth of 1 317 m.

The Erut-1 well is located on a large structural feature in the northern part of the South Lokichar basin.

Drilling at the well was a follow-up to the successful drilling of the Etom-2 well, which led to the discovery of 102 m of net oil pay that had some of the best reservoir characteristics seen to date in the basin.

The discovery of more oil in Kenya comes at a time when the country is preparing to start commercial oil production, albeit at a small scale.

At the end of last year, Kenya’s recoverable crude was estimated at over 750-million barrels.

“Based on the continuing drilling and testing programme over the past year, our best estimate is that the company’s discoveries in the South Lokichar basin contain gross unrisked contingent resources of 766-million barrels of oil,” the company stated in September last year.

This prompted the Kenyan government to push for commercial production under the Early Oil Pilot Scheme, in terms of which Tullow Oil and its partners, Africa Oil and Maersk Oil, intend to produce 2 000 bbl/d, starting in June this year.

Tullow Oil discovered Kenya’s first oil in Turkana’s Lokichar basin in 2010. This was followed by a string of other finds that have put the country on the path to becoming an oil producer.

The British explorer, which has also discovered crude oil in neighbouring Uganda, operates blocks 13T and 10BB, in each of which it has a stake of 50%, while its partners, Africa Oil and Maersk Oil, control a 25% stake each.