Taipan signs rig contractor and drilling operator for onshore Kenya well

Taipan Resources has signed on a rig contractor and drilling operator for its Badada-1 well, onshore Kenya.

Tower Resources holds 15% interest in the well while Premier Oil and Taipan own 55% and 30% stakes, respectively.

Greatwall Drilling Company will provide the GW-190 land rig and Norwell Engineering will manage the drilling operations of the well, which will test analogous geology to the Lokichar Basin.

The Badada-1 well is located in the southeastern extension of the Anza Basin, near its juncture with the Mandera-Lugh and Mochesa Basins.

The well is designed to test the Tertiary age reservoirs with the total depth of the well planned between 3,000m and 4,000m.

Taipan estimated gross mean unrisked prospective resources of about 251 million barrels of oil equivalent for the well.

Drilling is anticipated to start in early January 2015 and take about 70 days with well costs estimated to be between $20m and $25m.

Tower Resources CEO Graeme Thomson said: "Well-site preparations are gathering momentum for the drilling of the Badada-1 well during this exciting time for Tower’s shareholders which will see the Company drill its first frontier exploration well in Kenya in early January 2015.

"Success with Badada-1 would de-risk our subsurface thesis of the Anza Basin and result in material potential upside in Block-2B with further exploration drilling in 2016/17."