A Map Guide to Exploration History in East Africa

Exploration in East Africa actually started early last century, beginning with Anglo-American’s
Dudley Expedition to Abyssinia in 1920. The biggest effort was in Uganda and the Eritrean Red
Sea where there was extensive shallow drilling around oil seeps. Systematic exploration did not
commence until the 1950s, however, and it is there this review begins of the exploration activity
in the region, decade by decade, looking at the pattern of exploration in the different countries, the
companies involved, the objectives they pursued and what drove the fluctuating interest

Permits in East Africa 1950 – 2010

Map Showing wells drilled during each decade.

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1950s: During the worldwide surge in exploration after WW2 the Horn of Africa was seen as a potential
extension of the Arabian oil province. When Sinclair Oil commenced field work in Somalia and Ethiopia,
their first activity, they reported, was to scan the region for other structures similar to Saudi Arabia’s
legendary Ghawar. BP/Shell were prominent in the then British colonies of Kenya and Somaliland but large
American companies such as Mobil and Sinclair were conspicuous too, as was the Italian AGIP. 36 wells
were drilled in the ‘50s, with many being stratigraphic rather than structural tests, including wells on the
seeps along the shore of Uganda’s Lake Albert. There were encouraging oil shows in Sinclair’s Galadi well
in Ethiopia and Stanvac’s wells on the Daga Shebel seep in what was then British Somaliland.

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1960s: Exploration activity increased slightly in the 1960s but permit areas decreased in Ethiopia
and northern Somalia. The number of large and small companies was about in balance, though the
large companies were still the dominant players. 40 wells were drilled but, while reflection seismic
surveys offered improved prospect selection, few wells had significant shows. The gas flow at
Sinclair’s Agfoi-1 in Somalia was probably the high point of the decade onshore. In the Red Sea,
Mobil’s C-1 gas blow-out pointed to gas potential.

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The 70s brought an influx of major companies, primarily into Kenya and Ethiopia, with Chevron, Elf, Total,
Burmah, Tenneco and Exxon all making their entry to the region. Conoco took the industry’s initial look at
the Lake Albert Basin. The list of permitees in the 1970s has only a few small companies on it. I worked
for one of them - Whitestone, a Dallas-based independent - in Ethiopia and Kenya. Over the decade, 27
wells were drilled. Tanzania enjoyed the Songo Songo gas discovery, while Tenneco’s Calub and Hilala
gas discoveries and oil shows established Ethiopia’s western Ogaden as a potential new hydrocarbon
province. Unfortunately the military coup and war with Somalia brought exploration there to an end. Kenya
and Somalia yielded only minor gas flows.

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Despite these disappointing results, the enthusiasm of the large companies for East Africa saw activity rise
to a new peak in the 1980s, driven by the soaring oil price and encouraged by big discoveries nearby in
Sudan and Yemen. This increase was largely in Somalia and in Kenya, where exploration moved into the
Anza Graben. In Ethiopia the main activity was a Russian co-operative project in the Ogaden. Exploration
commenced in the interior Karoo basins in Tanzania, and along the lake basins there and in Burundi. 58
wells were drilled, 42 wildcats and 16 appraisals. 8 of these were following up Tenneco’s Ethiopian Ogaden
discoveries; 2 trying unsuccessfully to prove commerciality at the Agfoi gasfield in Somalia, and 5
confirming the Songo Songo gasfield in Tanzania, where a second gas discovery was made at Mnazi Bay.

The 90s were a different story. The oil price had collapsed in the late 80s and got worse through
the 90s. Local problems exacerbated the situation. Promising exploration efforts in Somalia were

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aborted after the 1991 Somalia coup and the anarchy that followed, but not before Conoco’s Nogal
well encountered oil shows in the Upper Cretaceous/Tertiary Nogal Rift. In Ethiopia, the civil war
ended and Eritrea seceded. Only 4 wildcat wells were drilled, 3 in red Sea. The 5 wells in Tanzania
yielded no significant shows. In Kenya, Shell’s Loperot well discovered an uncommercial oil
accumulation in the Lokichar Basin near Lake Turkana, but a perceived lack of structure
discouraged further activity.

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In the 2000s the oil price hike saw a swarm of exploration companies across East Africa, but, for
the first time, the larger oil companies were not part of the onshore scene. The main players were
NOCs such as Petronas, proven explorers such as Lundin, and a plethora of small independents.
This permitting frenzy did not lead everywhere to a boom in activity. Across Ethiopia, Kenya, and
Somalia only 5 wells were drilled – all disappointingly dry. It was a different story in Uganda’s
Lake Albert basin, however: the Turacao wells discovered gas and Hardman’s Mputa-1 oil
discovery in 2006 changed the game. 25 of the next 28 wells drilled in the region were oil
discoveries and Lake Albert was suddenly a giant oil province. In Tanzania’s coastal basin, a string
of modest gas discoveries - Mnazi Bay re-visited, Kiliwani, others - were an omen of what was to
come offshore.

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There has been a massive surge in permitting since 2010 in response to the discoveries and almost
all basin areas are under permit, save for most of Somalia where security remains a major problem
- 95 wells were drilled to end 2013. In 2010, Pweza-1 discovered gas in deep-water Tanzania and
numerous other major discoveries followed. In Kenya, Tullow discovered oil in Ngamia-1 in the
Lokichar Basin, and have since made several more discoveries. In Uganda, there have been
numerous new discoveries and successful appraisal on the Albertine oilfields. Conversely, much
anticipated drilling in Ethiopia’s Omo Basin, on trend from Kenya’s Lokichar, was unsuccessful,
as was drilling in northern Somalia.