Vangold explorera le pétrole Rwandais
29/10/07
Vangold to explore for oil in Rwanda’s Kivu Graben
By A CORRESPONDENT
The EastAfrican
Canada-based Vangold Resources Ltd has been assigned a second block in Rwanda to explore for oil.
Rwanda has never been explored for hydrocarbons and this will be the first time an international oil exploration company is being assigned to explore for oil in the country.
In an interview with The EastAfrican, a geophysicist with the company, Danson Mburu, said studies had revealed signs of hydrocarbons in some areas around Lake Kivu, especially in Bisesero, Kibuye, Kayove and Namyumba.
Dubbed the “White Elephant,” Vangold’s concession in Rwanda covers the entire area of possible petroleum potential basins in the country.
Known as the Kivu Graben, the area is part of the great western East African Rift System. It is approximately 90 km wide and 200 km long, straddling both Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Structurally, Kivu Graben is the southern extension of the Albertine Graben in Uganda, where there has been a major oil discovery.
Geologists believe that favourable petroleum systems exist in the area that supports the generation, migration, accumulation and entrapment of hydrocarbons in the Kivu Graben.
Based also on structural similarity, it follows that the paleo-tectonic setting and graben-fill environment established in the Albertine Graben may have extended to Kivu Graben.
“It is reasonable to conclude that the favourable petroleum systems resulting in the generation and entrapment of the hydrocarbons in Albertine Graben may have also existed in the Kivu Graben,” says Francis Karanja, a Vangold’s geologist.
Vangold conducted a one-year study whose preliminary results revealed positive indicators of hydrocarbons generation in the Kivu Graben, including signs of the existence of methane and other hydrocarbons in the deep waters of Lake Kivu.
The area has also shown signs of higher molecular gases such as ethane, propane, Iso-butane and traces of n-butane.
Dal Brynelsen, president of Vangold, told The EastAfrican that even with the strong indications of hydrocarbons in the Kive Garben, details on petroleum potential are unknown. Vangold will underwrite this risk for the next 18 months, he added.
Vangold has been busy in the East African region, having signed a Production Sharing Agreement with Kenya’s Ministry of Energy to explore oil in Block 3A in the North-Eastern Province.
The agreement is the third the Kenya government has signed with an international oil company in the past three weeks, indicating a renewed determination by Nairobi to find the commodity.
Commentaires