Oil exploration well in Ethiopia’s Gambella turns out dry

ADDIS ABABA, May 27 (Xinhua) — The oil exploration well in Ethiopia’s west state of Gambella has turned out dry, it was learned here on Saturday.

The drilling work on the first exploration well, which is 3,500 meters deep, was recently finalized, said Li Jianjun, chief representative of the Chinese oil firm Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB).

After conducting a well test to ascertain if there was oil in the area, ZPEB experts concluded there was no oil inflow in the well, Li told Xinhua.

ZPEB, which had been contracted by the Malaysian oil firm Petronas, has been prospecting for crude oil for the past two years in the Gambella basin, near the Sudanese border. Since 2004, ZPEB has been conducting seismic surveys in the Gambella basin. In March this year, ZPEB started drilling the exploration well in the area.

The Gambella basin is one of the five sedimentary basins found in Ethiopia, which are expected to be oil prospective.

The well was drilled in Chikaw, 175 km east of the Ethio-Sudan boarder and 85 km from Gambella, capital of the Gambella state. The Gambella basin stretches across a 19,600 square km of land. The Gambella basin is an extension of the Melut basin, located in southern Sudan. The Melut basin is known for its huge amount of oil reserve.

However, ZPEB experts said one cannot conclude that there was no oil reserve in the Gambella basin just by looking at the well testing conducted on only one well.

Li said ZPEB will undertake another seismic survey in the basin in the dry season as the current rainy season have interrupted their exploration activity.

After studying the geological formation in the first well and conducting a new seismic survey in the area, ZPEB experts will identify where to drill an additional exploration well, he said.

(ST/Xinhua)