Maurel & Prom announced that it has opened the first two wells of the Mnazi Bay gas field in Tanzania
Gas from the field, which straddles both onshore and offshore Tanzania, will go to the Madimba processing centre, the entry point of the gas pipeline linking Mtwara to Dar es Salaam.
Maurel & Prom is operator of the field, with 48.06 per cent interest. The Madimba processing centre is operated by GASCO, a subsidiary of Tanzania Petrochemical Development Corporation (TPDC).
The production output will initially be used solely for commissioning operations for the new TPDC/GASCO facilities, but is then expected to ramp up rapidly to 70mn cfd with the connection of two additional wells in October 2015. A production capacity of 80mn cfd is expected by the end of the year.
Over the next few months, Maurel & Prom will analyse the production output and reservoirs, and based on the results, would define an additional production capacity.
Under the gas sales agreement signed in September last year, for which financial guarantees are now in place, the sale price has been set at US$3.00 per million BTU, and will rise in line with the US CPI industrial index.
Maurel & Prom went into Tanzania in July 2004 with the Bigwa-Rufiji-Mafia permit in which it holds a 60 per cent interest. In 2009, it acquired the Mnazi Bay permit from Wentworth Resources, which was then known as Artumas Energy. The development licence for Mnazi Bay was granted in October 2006 for a 25-year term, renewable once for a further period of 20 years.
