Kenya renews Lamu oil search amid Somali row

Kenya to increase oil and gas drilling in the Lamu region despite International Court of Justice (ICJ) verdict in a four-decade maritime dispute with Somalia.

News Keydmedia Online
11 January 2022

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya has stepped up oil and gas exploration activities in the Lamu Basin weeks after rejecting a ruling over a four-decade maritime dispute with Somalia.

Petroleum commissioner James Ng’ang’a said that ENI Kenya Business Venture (BV), formerly Agip, started drilling last month at Mlima-1 well, which is also known as Block L11B.

This follows seismic surveys that revealed the area has potential for oil and gas. The company expects to release deposits results of the block in terms of commercial viability in the next two months.

"The spudding of the well was conducted on December 28th 2021 and is expected to last for two months,” Mr Ng’ang’a told the Business Daily.

Oil and gas explorers use seismic surveys to produce detailed images of the various rock types and the location beneath the earth’s surface and to determine the location and size of potential oil and gas reservoirs.

Mr Ng’ang’a added that the country will abandon the venture in case the well turns out dry at the end of the drilling and mining assessment within the 60 days.

Since April last year, Kenya has been mapping for oil and gas deposits in the Lamu Basin despite a border row over the area with Somalia.

The basin stretches from the Kenya-Somali border to the boundary with Tanzania and the ministry banking on its vastness to secure Kenya oil production wells.

But the basin lies within the disputed territory with Somalia that has been the cause of diplomatic spats between the two countries.

Somalia lodged the case over the 100,000 square kilometre coastal strip believed to harbour oil, natural gas and mineral reserves before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in August 2014.

Business Daily