Joint venture partners Aminex and Solo Oil have made a gas discovery at the Ntorya-1 exploration well in the Ruvuma Basin, onshore Tanzania
Further to the Company’s update on 15 February 2012, which reported strong gas shows in a good quality Cretaceous reservoir sand at a depth of 2,660 metres, the open hole has now been logged from total depth of 2,750 metres across the zone of interest.
Aminex chief executive Stuard Detmer said that following recent high-profile exploration successes in the offshore Ruvuma Basin of Tanzania and Mozambique, the Ntorya-1 well has established, for the first time, the presence of reservoired hydrocarbons onshore.
"Given current plans to develop major gas infrastructure on the coast just 25km away, this has the potential for commercial development and opens new possibilities in the underexplored onshore regions of our Ruvuma block PSA," said Detmer.
Evaluation of electric logs from the well revealed a gross sand interval of 25m between 2,660m and 2,685m, with a three metre net gas bearing pay zone in sandstones. Aminex said the sandstones show 20 per cent porosity at the top and a 16.5m thick lower sandstone interval with further possible gas pay.
The company noted the presence of reservoired hydrocarbons in Cretaceous sands in Ntorya-1 opens up the potential for additional plays in thick Mesozoic sandstones that were encountered by the company and its partners in the Likonde-1 well, 14km north of the Ntorya-1 well.
Aminex plans to run a 7-inch liner to total depth and the well by a further 250m to investigate a prominent seismic event at 3,000m.
