Major Oil Company Shares Geological Data To Help Provide Fresh Drinking Water To Millions In Africa

For many years, the vast plains and deserts of Africa have hidden an invaluable treasure beneath their surface: vast underground reservoirs of freshwater. Ironically, while much of the continent grapples with extreme water scarcity—impacting nearly two-thirds of its population—there is more water beneath African soil than was previously imagined. 

The challenge, however, has always been in locating these concealed aquifers. Despite water itself being a basic necessity that should be cheap and accessible, the process of identifying and accessing these underground water reserves has often proved prohibitively expensive. 

Typically, only large development organizations or government bodies have been able to shoulder the enormous financial burden of such exploratory missions. Yet, in a remarkable twist of fate, the very industry responsible for probing the Earth in search of oil has become a surprising ally in the quest for water. 

For decades, oil exploration companies have been conducting comprehensive seismic surveys across Africa, mapping out the geological formations deep beneath the surface in search of petroleum reserves. 

While these surveys were designed for oil and gas discovery, they inadvertently documented a wealth of information on the continent’s hidden water sources—data that was largely ignored because it fell outside the interests of these energy giants. These forgotten records have now become a game-changing resource in the mission to provide clean water to millions.

A pioneering company called Ruden AS has emerged at the forefront of this effort. Founded by Norwegian geologist and former oil exploration expert Fritjov Ruden and his daughter Helene Ree in 2009, the company has made it their mission to unlock Africa’s hidden freshwater reservoirs by repurposing existing geological data from oil companies. 

Having transitioned from oil exploration to water resource development, Fritjov Ruden had an epiphany during his time working in Tanzania. He realized that when oil drilling ventures fail to strike petroleum after drilling a certain depth, they often abandon the site and declare it dry—without recognizing that these same sites could be teeming with vast amounts of water. Ruden saw potential in these so-called “dry wells” and decided to use his knowledge of seismic data to dig deeper—literally and figuratively.

Working closely with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ruden and his daughter embarked on an ambitious project. They persuaded the Ministry to approach the Tanzanian Petroleum Ministry, lobbying for access to decades’ worth of seismic survey data that had been collected by the national oil company. 

Their hope was to repurpose this data to locate aquifers—an idea made all the more viable by recent scientific findings suggesting that underground water sources are far more abundant across Africa than previously thought.

After three long years of negotiation and persistence, they finally obtained the coveted seismic data. Upon studying it, Ruden and his team made a groundbreaking discovery. They realized that in Tanzania’s Kimbiji Ward, previous drilling attempts had not gone deep enough. What lay 1,800 feet below was not oil, but a massive aquifer filled with freshwater. 

In 2005, they finally reached it, and the results were nothing short of extraordinary. Water gushed forth from the deep earth, signaling the uncovering of a life-changing resource for the region.

This newly discovered underground water reserve, now known as the Kimbiji aquifer, has been estimated to hold an astonishing 5,000 cubic kilometers of water. Even more impressive is its annual recharge rate of 2,000 cubic kilometers per year, making it a sustainable resource that can continue to replenish itself. 

Thanks to this discovery, as many as two million Tanzanians will have access to clean drinking water for up to a century. As Elizabeth Quiroga Jordan, a petroleum engineer at Ruden AS, told Euro News, “Everyone got excited because this was the discovery of an aquifer that no one knew existed.”

Encouraged by the success in Tanzania, Ruden AS has turned its attention to other parts of the continent facing severe water scarcity.

In Somalia, decades of oil and gas exploration have produced a treasure trove of geological data. More than 80 oil and gas wells have been drilled there, along with over 30,000 miles of seismic survey lines mapped in the process. 

Ruden AS is now actively analyzing this vast dataset, hoping to identify hidden aquifers beneath Somalia’s arid terrain. If successful, the Somali people could experience the same transformative impact that the Kimbiji aquifer has brought to Tanzania.

What makes Ruden AS’s approach so compelling is its innovative reuse of existing data. Instead of investing in costly new surveys, the company taps into information that already exists but was previously overlooked. Their work highlights a critical opportunity to address Africa’s water crisis in a sustainable and cost-effective way.

As water scarcity remains a daunting challenge for the continent, initiatives like Ruden AS’s are bringing hope. By repurposing oil exploration data for humanitarian purposes, they are not only providing millions with access to clean water but also demonstrating the powerful potential of technology and ingenuity to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!

True Activist / Report a typo