Korosi Geothermal Prospect. This is GDC’s latest exploration frontier, as the Company searches for geothermal resources in its quest for cleaner, greener, and affordable energy for Kenyans.
Here, GDC is well into its plans of drilling three exploration wells to verify the availability of the resource, before
the appraisal and subsequent production drilling. The first and second of the three wells, Korosi Well 01(KW-01) and Korosi Well 02(KW-02) respectively, have been completed and are heating up in readiness for a discharge test. Drilling is underway for the third and final exploration well, Korosi Well 03 (KW-03).
The drilling site of KW-03 is buzzing. Cranes move drilling pipes from one end to the other, floormen give instructions to roustabouts as they organize the drilling pipes to be lifted to the rig floor. On the side, a vehicle kicks off the dust as it drives to the well pad to drop supplies. The noise of clinking metals from the racked drilling pipes are drowned by the sound from the roar of the gigantic Kifaru 1 Rig as it bores the earth.
Mr Stephen Kangogo is the man tasked with managing the drilling of exploration wells in the Korosi prospect. He is a Principal Engineer, Drilling Operations. Here, he is buoyant of the imminent success of the prospect expressing confidence that the drilling of KW-03 will yield positive results. Kangogo is full of experience.
“Judging from our experience drilling at Paka prospect, we are confident that here at Korosi, we are going to successfully discover the resource from our exploration drilling. The rock formation of this bloc is more or less the same as Paka and so is the permeability. All these indicators point to a repeat of our successes as witnessed in the just concluded Paka field,” beamed Kangogo.
The exploration drilling in Korosi and Paka marks a great milestone for GDC and the Country. First, it opens a new frontier for further industry development. Secondly, it marks a major step towards establishing geothermal as the main source of energy for the grid, and thirdly, it ushers in a new era of affordable and environmentally-friendly baseload energy for Kenyans.
Mr. John Lagat, the Regional Manager, North Rift, says the Baringo-Silali prospect is being developed wholly by GDC’s internal expertise.
“Currently we are averaging $ 3.5 Million per well. This is below the global average of between $ 5 Million and $ 7 Million,” said Mr. Lagat.
Additionally, the Korosi geothermal prospect provides GDC with a new impetus in resource mobilization as it fits well
into the African Union Commission’s (AUC) Geothermal Risk Mitigation Fund (GRMF) incentive. This is part of AUC’s quest to establish geothermal energy as a strategic option for power generation capacity expansion, as it pushes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions towards environmental sustainability.
“Geothermal energy is baseload electricity with the highest reliability as compared to other renewables such as hydro, solar, and wind. It presents the cheapest source of electricity alternative at approximately 8.8 US cents per Kilowatt hour when put against solar or wind that costs in the Country 11-12 US cents per kilowatt-hour,” said Mr. Joseph Mutahi, a Chief Officer, Corporate Planning and Strategy.
With this, GDC is in line to benefit from GRMF funding through its development of the Korosi prospect and the larger Baringo-Silali bloc. It is a new geothermal field, which elevates the GDC status locally and regionally as a leading company in supporting the production of cost-effective green energy to support industrial growth in Kenya and to help deal with the current global challenge of greenhouse gases.
Good work GDC! Keep it up.
Thank you Franklin