The Sh2.5 billion gas drilling exploration in Lamu’s Pate Island is at 300 metres.
Three weeks ago Zarara Oil and Gas Limited, a subsidiary of Midway Resources International, announced the start of the onshore gas exploration.
Zarara Oil and Gas country manager Peter Nduru on Thurday said drilling of the Pate-2 well top-hole is complete.
He said they are awaiting the arrival of a bigger rig from Tunisia to enable them continue drilling as deep as 4,500 metres in search of gas.
Nduru cited several setbacks, especially heavy rain that has hindering transportation of equipment to the drilling site in Pate.
The drilling is in block L4 and L13, located close to the Sh25 trillion Lamu Port-Lapsset project in Kililana, Lamu West.
He said all work is environmentally friendly. “I have heard people speaking of oil spill. We are only drilling gas,” Nduru said.
In April, Nduru said the company had contracted a top-hole drilling rig from Drilling Spares & Services Ltd, an experienced Kenyan drilling company.
It will drill and run a 20-inch casing for both Pate-2 and Pate-3 wells to 300 metres.
The drilling started 48 years since Shell-BP drilled Pate-1 well for natural gas. Initially, drilling was scheduled for June 2017 but it was delayed due to technical and financial problems.
If successful, the project will join a list of other mega projects such as the new Lamu port, the Sh200 billion coal-fired power plant and the Sh21 billion wind plant meant to lift the economy of Lamu and the region.