OREANDA-NEWS. Taipan Resources Inc., through its Kenya-based subsidiary Lion Petroleum ("Lion"), is pleased to announce that the GW-190 rig has spudded the Badada-1 well, in Block 2B onshore Kenya, at 14:00:00 (2:00PM) GMT on 07 January 2015.

Taipan estimates gross mean unrisked recoverable resources of 251 mmboe (Source: Sproule International Limited (1), February 2014) for Badada. The well is planned to be drilled to a total depth of between 3,000 and 4,000 metres to test Tertiary age reservoirs analogous to those in the Lokichar basin where Tullow and Africa Oil have made discoveries with best estimate unrisked gross (2C) contingent resources totaling 616 mmbbls (Africa Oil Corp. Corporate Presentation dated September 2014). The Operator expects drilling to take up to 70 days to complete.

During drilling, Taipan intends to provide the market with regular operational updates. The Company will also provide a comprehensive update once operations on the Badada-1 well have been fully completed and analysed.

Maxwell Birley, CEO, commented: "The spudding of the Badada-1 well is an important milestone for both Taipan and Lion Petroleum. Since acquiring the Kenya-based assets of Lion, the Taipan team has identified the Badada prospect after acquiring two seismic surveys on Block 2B, building on legacy data from an earlier period of exploration, and then successfully financed the drilling through a combination of capital raises and farm downs. We, along with our partners, Tower Resources and Premier Oil, are extremely excited about the opportunity that Badada presents as a potential play opener which could generate considerable upside from a follow-on exploration programme."