Aminex Files Plan for South Tanzania Field
UK-listed east Africa gas explorer Aminex announced September 6 it has filed its Ntorya field development plan to the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) for approval. The field, onshore southern Tanzania’s Ruvuma Basin, has an estimated 1.3 trillion ft3 gas initially in place.
The plan, which incorporates findings from io oil and gas consulting's commercialisation study, takes into account several ways of getting value from the gas, including: compressed natural gas, gas-to-power, and directly connecting the gas produced from the Ntorya field to the Madimba Plant in southeast Tanzania with a 35-km spur line.
Aminex has applied for a staged development of the field to allow for an early production system with existing wells and a programme that drills further development wells based on demand. The plan is now subject to review by the Tanzanian authorities and Aminex said it will provide an update on this and the timing for spudding the Ntorya-3 well during 4Q 2017.
CEO Jay Bhattacherjee remarked: "Submission of the Ntorya field development plan is a major milestone for the company as we progress towards unlocking the value across Ntorya and Ruvuma as a whole.” Aminex has a 75% operating interest in the Ruvuma PSC licence, while fellow UK-listed Solo Oil has the other 25%.
Solo’s executive chairman Neil Ritson said: “Solo is working closely with Aminex on the development and monetisation options and also continues to consider its own monetisation options, which have been greatly enhanced by the significant resources upgrade announced earlier this week and the filing of the development plan.”
Map showing the first two wells drilled at the Ntorya gasfield, not far from the border with Mozambique (Map credit: Aminex)
Separately, Toronto and AIM-listed SDX Energy, which has interests in Morocco and Egypt, said September 6 it had completed an oversubscribed $10mn fundraising placement with its existing institutional investors.
Mark Smedley