Kampala — Tullow Oil yesterday announced that it had struck another oil well, Kigogole-1, in the river delta of Victoria Nile, heightening the petroleum potential of the Butiaba area in Buliisa District. After drilling the well, found in Block II, to a total depth of 616 meters, the company said it had encountered two ten-metre oil zones.

"Logging, downhole pressure testing and sampling has confirmed the presence of moveable light sweet oil in reservoirs just below 400 metres. This is the shallowest section where oil has been encountered in Uganda to date." Kigogle-1, drilled 10 km north-east of the Kasamene-1 discovery, was the third test on the Victoria Nile delta play within the Lake Albert Rift Basin.

Tullow said well testing results had confirmed the presence of a good quality petroleum reservoir, a finding that strengthened of prospects several other adjacent fields. "Kigogole is the fifth successive discovery in the Butiaba region within the last five months - an excellent record of geological success and operational efficiency," said Mr Aidan Heavey, the chief executive officer of Tullow Oil.

"This discovery reinforces the high potential of this area and in particular the Victoria Nile delta play," he said. The Commissioner of Petroleum Production and Exploration, Mr Reuben Kashambuzi, described the discovery as the best to date. "To encounter such a thick and rich structure with clear separation of oil, gas and water......this is stuff of textbooks, an absolutely wonderful discovery," he said.

According to Tullow, the reservoir quality for both zones (oil & gas) was excellent and noted that the gas and oil columns could be much larger, probably over 35 meters and 75 meters respectively. The Ministry of Energy estimates that Uganda's potential daily oil at about 50,000 barrels per day.