The gas ‘reservoir sealed
News had emerged from Kipeto, a location in Kajiado County that some hydrologists had come across a ‘reservoir’ that contained an oduorless gas. The gas upon lighting caught fire, leading to suspicion that it was natural gas. The hydrologists were from a water company contracted by one Joseph Malonye to drill a borehole to boost his farming activities. It was on a shallow depth of about 200metres that the hydrologists accidentally hit the ‘reservoir’.
According to recent reports from the government, the results of the oduorless gas test conducted in US were negative, as they confirmed that the gas came from buried layers of decomposed animals and plants, and not from oil deposits as many had assumed.
The ‘reservoir’ location secured with a fence to keep the area isolated
Previously, no oil or gas explorations have been done in Kipeto. The striking of gas was purely accidental. There however was a similar incident that happened in the 1990’s when a bilateral agency organization while drilling for water in Oldoinyo Nyokie close to Magadi stroke gas. Following the incident, the Dutch agency took the gas for laboratory testing and found that it was cooking gas with some impurities. The borehole was however covered and abandoned.
After the gas discovery, Expectations from the owners of land and the neighbors shoot high. To them it was time to reap harvest as their lands had ‘increased in value’. Their dreams suffered a blow after the results by NOCK were reported to be negative. They however do not believe the results to be true. Many land buyers have been steaming in to buy land, mainly for speculation purposes.
The house of a man living about 5metres from the area of the gas leaking
The community is very skeptical and highly doubts the government’s report. They believe senior officials in government are duping people so that they can buy land and claim for compensation themselves. The community is confused and a few are contemplating securing a second opinion independently.