Ophir Energy has commenced drilling operations on the Mlinzi Mbali-1 gas well located offshore Tanzania, which could boost the country’s prospects for a second LNG project
Norwegian oil and gas firm Statoil and the UK’s BG Group had outlined plans to build a US$10bn East African Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Tanzania earlier this year.
The Mlinzi Mbali-1well is located 210km east of Dar es Salaam on Block 7 and is being currently drilled by the Deepsea Metro I drillship.
According to the British oil and gas explorer, Mlinzi Mbali-1 is the first gas well on the block and is targeting a structural crest within a Lower Cretaceous channel complex, with secondary targets in the Upper Cretaceous and the Jurassic.
Pre-drill estimates have shown that the two primary channel reservoirs in the Lower Cretaceous have the potential to contain Pmean prospective resources of 283bn cubic metres.
The well is located in a water depth of approximately 2,600 metres and has a planned total depth of 5,650 metres.
Nick Cooper, CEO of Ophir Energy, said, “Mlinzi Mbali-1 is a playfinder well designed as the first test of the Cretaceous and Jurassic plays in the Northern Tanzanian Coastal Basin, and is the first of several high-impact wells that Ophir will be drilling over the next 12 months.
The prospect is one of the largest prospects on pre-drill estimates to be drilled to date offshore East Africa. It is a high-risk frontier well, but in the success case this could unlock a significant new gas resource to support a second LNG project for Tanzania, following on from the deepwater discoveries already made in Blocks 1-4 to the south.”
Operations are expected to take about 50 days, the company added.
Ophir Energy has an 80 per cent net interest in the block.
