Oil exploration activities will continue in sub-Saharan Africa throughout 2015, despite the slump in oil prices which has led to companies cutting back on their global exploration budget, according to GlobalData Analyst
The west coast of Africa is also being extensively explored, with a focus on the West African Transform Margin area consisting of Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast and as far as Senegal, said Young Okunna, GlobalData's upstream analyst covering sub-Saharan Africa.
"Despite current oil prices, these areas have proven attractive due to recent discoveries, high exploration success rates, and relatively low operating costs. Continued activity is further supported by the less significant drop in rig count in comparison to other regions as of February 2015, which indicates significant ongoing drilling operations," stated GlobalData Analyst.
"In East Africa, the emerging countries of Kenya and Tanzania have seen companies, such as Tullow Oil, focus their exploration objectives onshore. Tullow’s drilling plan focuses on low-risk acreage rather than exploration operations in the capital-intensive offshore. The South Lokichar and West Turkana Basin in onshore Kenya are the focus of these planned exploration drilling operations. A portion of the South Lokichar Basin was recently explored and an estimated reserve of 600mn barrels of oil discovered."
Operators are keen to explore the onshore East African Rift system where these basins are located, due to major hydrocarbon deposits.
