The Deputy Director General of Mines and Geology in Rwanda Natural Resources Authority Dr.Michael Biryabarema revealed that though the observation showed that there is petroleum potential in Lake Kivu; there are three stages to go in order to find out whether there is crude oil in the Lake.
Those stages include detailed seismic study, possible drilling on exploration and drilling a number of wells to assess whether there is petroleum.
“The possibility of hydrocarbon accumulation exists, particularly in the deep consolidated sediment in the East Basin” Biryabarema said
“…of course potential does not mean petroleum…..we hope the exploration will provide good data” He noted
The search for petroleum potential is being conducted by Vanoil Ltd since October, 2007
The analysis of satellite picture and data collected by Vanoil Company showed that there were 57 definitive possibilities of oil silks in water which is possibly related to petroleum occurrence.
In collaboration with Syracuse University, Vanoil has already acquired 643 km of 2D seismic data and this was completed on March 16, 1012.
The objective of that 2D seismic shooting was to identify the seals and potential source and reservoir rocks in Lake Kivu which will further indicate the possible presence of a petroleum system.
The first phase of 2D seismic shooting was a reconnaissance survey using low energy source and if the results followed by 3D seismic to penetrate deeper into the basin.
Since 2008, more has been done to determine whether there may be a petroleum deposit under Lake Kivu.
The preliminary magnetic and gravity exploration results indicated a sedimentary basin of 2-3, 5 km thickness in the northern and central part of Lake Kivu, and according to this is usually a good indication in a location of petroleum occurrence potential.
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