Rift Energy has announced that following the completion of pre-drilling works, it is now set to proceed with the drilling of its first well in Block L19 located in Kenya.

 According to the company, the drilling will commence in the first quarter of 2016 and four drill-ready prospects have been identified including more than twenty extra leads with noteworthy reserve potential. Rift estimates the recoverable resource reserves to be about 856 million BO and 13.6 tcf of gas. It also noted that it is in the last stage of completing the environmental impact assessments in the prospects.

On the other hand, the global decline in the prices of oil has created an opportunity for the costs of drilling to reduce, compared to initial estimates, according to the company.

“In East Africa, we view this environment as an opportunity to find and develop assets at a lower cost structure, which will enable us to capitalize on the upside when oil and gas prices return to historical levels”, Fred Zaziski, President of Rift Energy told Oil News Kenya.

The Houston-based explorer reveals that discussions are ongoing with potential farm-in partners which are to provide extra technical and financial assistance for its initial exploratory drilling program.

Rift Energy is at present in its second phase of exploration, which is to determine if the company will obtain a 500 km 3D seismic or drill an exploration well in the next 24 months.

The Ria Kaluli 1 well is the only well that has been drilled till date on Block L19.  Drilled in 1962 to a depth of 1, 583 meters, the well was later plugged after stumbling upon oil shows in the Karoo formation.