afrol News, 10 September - Tullow Oil, has announced a new oil discovery in western Uganda in Butiaba region in Lake Albert Rift Basin on Tuesday.

A Kigogole-1 discovery which is the fifth successive discovery in five months in Uganda's Butiaba region along Lake Victoria, found light and movable oil in reservoirs just below 400 meters.

The London-based company said in a statement posted on its website that the well was drilled to a total depth of 616 meters and encountered two oil zones with a net pay of 10 meters, making it shallowest section where oil has been encountered in Uganda.

According to company statement, Kigogle-1, about 10 km northeast of the Kasamene-1 discovery, is the third test on Victoria Nile delta play in the Lake Albert Rift basin.

"Well results have confirmed presence of good quality reservoir and seals in this area and upgraded several adjacent prospects that will be tested during the 2009 Butiaba drilling campaign," Tullow Oil said in a statement.

Tullow's Chief Executive Aidan Heavey said discovery reinforces the high potential of the area and in particular Victoria Nile delta.

"The success in shallow horizons at Kigogole has very positive implications for remainder of Butiaba campaign which is targeting prospects located up dip and on trend with significant Kasamene discovery," he added.

The company has suspended Kigogole-1 as a potential future production well pending completion of a three well exploration drilling programmes elsewhere in Uganda.

The Kigogole-1 announcement comes just days after country's largest oil deposit, with a flow rate of 14,364 barrels of oil per day (bopd), was discovered by Heritage, another oil company drilling in western Uganda.

The country will late next year embark on an early production scheme producing 4,000-5,000 bopd, which are to be refined into diesel, kerosene and heavy-fuel, said government officials.

Meanwhile, Ugandan government has been urged again by civil society groups and residents in oil exploring area to publish the production sharing agreements, saying government should avail the information including the cost of the early production scheme.

Since Ugandan government signed production sharing agreements with oil exploration companies, details have never been availed to the public, creating suspicion about transparency.

Drilling operations on the well started on August 25.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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