Often called “The Heart of Africa” and covers an area of 27,834km². Burundi is landlocked and borders with Rwanda, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo, thus forming part of the Central African Region.

Various studies have been conducted since 1959 for petroleum exploration both on the Rusizi Basin and in the Lake Tanganyika Basin. These basins are part of the East African Rift System and are located between Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia.


This Rift System is dated from Cenozoic (Tertiary) and is divided into two branches the eastern arm and the western arm. The Lake Tanganyika and the plain of Rusizi belong to the western branch which consists of sedimentary basins marked by deep Lakes (Malawi, Tanganyika).

In Burundi, these basins cover an area of 2,968.1km^2. Geological studies, gravimetric, aeromagnetic and seismic surveys have been conducted in the two basins and the average sediments thickness is estimated to be more than 3,000 meters.

 

The exploration areas of Rusizi and Lake Tanganyika basins have been divided into four blocks: A (793.1km²), B (697.1km²), C (664 km²) and D (813.4 km²).

Block A is on Rusizi Basin which is onshore while blocks B, C and D are offshore in Lake Tanganyika basin from North to South respectively.
 
The Government of Burundi continues to encourage oil companies to invest in petroleum exploration. It is also reviewing the Petroleum Code dated 1976 for attracting more investors. Blocks C & D were granted to A-Z Petroleum Products Limited and Surestream Petroleum Limited respectively for exploration. However, with the fall of crude prices, fieldwork on these blocks was suspended. The four blocks are currently open and available to potential investors.

The Republic of Kenya is bisected by the Equator and East longitude 38o. It borders the Indian Ocean to the southeast, Somalia to the East, Ethiopia to the North, South Sudan to the Northwest, Uganda to the West, and Tanzania to the south. From the coastal margin, the low plains ascend to the central highlands. The Kenyan highlands comprise successful agricultural regions with climatic conditions varying from tropical along the coast to temperate inland to arid in the north and northeastern regions. It covers an area of 582,646km² with a population of over 40 million people and a Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 7.5 per cent in 2021 compared to a contraction of 0.3 per cent in 2020. The major sectors contributing to the GDP growth are agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, transport, communication, and fishing among others.

Kenya is endowed with diverse wildlife and thus a considerable acreage of land has been devoted to wildlife conservation habitats. These habitats include the famous Maasai Mara and Tsavo National Park. All the Big Five animals of Africa are found within these habitats.

 

Regionally, The East African Rift system bisects Kenya North-South with the drainage patterns being a function of the surface relief manifestation. Generally, most rivers drain to Indian Ocean, Lake Victoria, and Lake Turkana.

Kenya has four (4) sedimentary basins namely: Lamu, Anza, Mandera and Tertiary Rift covering an area of approximate 500,000km². Exploration started in Kenya in the 1950s. The sedimentary basins are subdivided into 63 petroleum exploration blocks out of which 20 are licensed to 10 international oil companies while one is licensed to the National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK). Forty (40) blocks are open for licensing to investors for oil and gas exploration.

 

 

Current Activities

 

Exploration Activities

Currently, exploration activities are ongoing both in the onshore and offshore blocks, albeit in a reduced phase due to the fall in crude prices. To date, over 80,000-line km of 2D seismic data and approximately 10,000km2 of 3D seismic data has been acquired across the various blocks. A total of 94 wells have been drilled. Most of the wells drilled so far are exploratory with a few being appraisal wells, mostly in the South Lokichar Sub-Basin of the Tertiary Rift Basin where oil discoveries have been made by Tullow Oil B.V. The Field Development Plan for Block 10BB and 13T in the South Lokichar Basin is currently under review. Other areas with oil and gas discoveries include offshore Lamu Basin in Block L8 drilled by Apache Energy Ltd (gas discovery) and Block L10A drilled by BG Group (oil and gas discovery).

 

The Ministry of Petroleum and Mining plans to conduct bid round licensing of the open shallow offshore blocks of the Lamu Basin in the near future. In readiness for this, the Ministry signed a contract with ION Geophysical for a 3D Seismic Multi-Client data acquisition program for shallow offshore in March 2021. The company will carry out two seismic projects; one covers new 3D acquisition in the offshore Lamu Basin, the second involves the re-imaging of vintage data. ION will carry out the multi-client work with BGP on the north and south of the Basin.

Midstream Project

To support the South Lokichar development, The Government of Kenya (GOK) entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with Tullow Kenya B.V., Africa Oil and TOTAL (formerly Maersk) for the development of a crude oil export pipeline system to transport stabilised crude oil from the Lokichar Central Processing Facility (CPF) in the South Lokichar Basin to the new port of Lamu, Kenya.

 

 

This export pipeline system is known as the Lokichar to Lamu Crude Oil Pipeline (LLCOP) project and will follow the LAPSET corridor. The proposed 24’’ pipeline is designed for a flow rate of 130 kbopd. This equates to an annualised flow rate of 120 kbopd when allowances are made for downtime/availability in the CPF or the pipeline system. The project is at the project development stage (Pre-FID stage). Front End Engineering Design (FEED) was completed; however, it has been updated with respect to the revised development concept. ESIA was completed and approved by NEMA. Conversations on the pipeline are being carried out alongside the South Lokichar Basin FDP.

Mwananchi Gas Project: Liquified Petroleum Gas Distribution

In the downstream sector, the Government has initiated a project dubbed, ‘The Mwananchi Gas Project”.

This is an initiative by the Ministry whose objectives are: -

1. Reduce use of biomass and kerosene as the primary source of household cooking fuels
2. To facilitate access of LPG to low-income households.
3. To enhance LPG penetration in the country
4. Scale-up uptake of LPG from 10% to 70%

 

 

The Ministry has so far procured over 100,000 6kg cylinders and sufficient accessories to begin the roll-out of both models.

The project will be rolled out in two models. Model 1 will distribute 6kg LPG-filled cylinders fitted with burners and grills. In the first phase of this model, 60,000 units will be distributed to eligible beneficiaries at the subsidized cost of Sh. 1,950/unit across the 11 sub-counties of Nairobi County. In the next phase, the focus of distribution will be country wide. Model 2 will entail the distribution of 6kg cylinders fitted with a compact valve and accessorized with a 1.5 m hose pipe, 2-burner table-top cooker, and a smart meter. As with Model 1, Model 2 will be piloted in Nairobi County and thereafter be enhanced to cover the rest of the country.

The smart meter will help beneficiaries to monitor their consumption and at the same time mimic their daily fuel consumption by allowing the purchase of LPG amounts that the beneficiary can afford. The Ministry in collaboration with National Oil Corporation of Kenya in the process of rolling out Phase 1 of the project which entails distribution of cylinder, grill, and burner at subsidized price. This will take place in all the eleven (11) sub counties of Nairobi County.

 

The country of thousand hills and green forests, Rwanda is situated in East Africa and located at the western branch of the great East Africa rift known as the Albertine Rift. The country is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rwanda’s stunning scenery and warm, friendly people offer unique experiences in one of the most remarkable countries in the world. It is blessed with extraordinary biodiversity, with incredible wildlife living throughout its volcanoes, montane rainforest, sweeping plains and numerous lakes throughout the country.

The west of Rwanda that touches the rift valley has many unique, endemic species and is bursting with life. Chimpanzees, golden monkeys and other primates live alongside hundreds of brightly-coloured birds, orchids and butterflies

 

Hydrocarbon Exploration in Rwanda

The exploration of hydrocarbons in Rwanda started in 1971. Initial exploration studies included geochemical and the overall analysis revealed the presence of a geologically interesting basing worth exploring more.

 

The main exploration efforts that followed comprised of 2D seismic data acquisition surveys in 2012 at lake Kivu basin, gravity and magnetic studies, and oil-prospecting geochemical survey in 2017-2018.  The results from geophysical studies showed that Lake Kivu basin is half graben and consists of a large main basin and four smaller,” separate basin “. The depth of the basins sediments is in the range between 3 km to 4.5 km.

Promising leads of a working petroleum system were found in the Lake Kivu basin and geochemical data have shown the presence of signs of migration of hydrocarbons from deep sources.

In 2021 the country contracted an American company to conduct a more advanced 2D seismic campaign to image with a higher resolution the deeper layers of Lake Kivu Basin to better understand the geological settings of the basin.

Owing to the above geological discoveries, the country has committed in pursuing the full potentiality of the lake Kivu Basin and welcomes investors for further explorations of highly potential basin of the region.

 

Methane gas extraction in Rwanda

Lake Kivu is located on the border between the Republic of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and covers an area of 2400 km² . The lake is estimated to hold 60 km³ (2.1 TCF) of exploitable methane gas that is shared between the two countries.  

The reserve of natural gas was found to be commercial valuable for generating electricity or converting the produced gas into other industrial uses. Consequently, in 2015, the country successfully launched the first commercial project of extracting methane to generate 26 MW of electricity and industrial projects are being developed for local and regional use.

Being the 2nd fastest growing economy,  2^nd for doing business in Africa, Rwanda has successfully been able to attract investors willing to strive in a safe environment. In addition, a new petroleum policy and update on petroleum in development will allow a competitive ground for international petroleum companies to invest in sector.