Aminex Rues Tanzanian Delays
Tanzania-focused gas explorer Aminex failed to break into profit last year, despite the Kiliwani North (KN) gasfield which it operates with 57.4474% having started up last April. It announced April 6 a net loss of $2.53mn last year, a third less than its $3.78mn loss in 2015.
Aminex also noted that its KN-1 well has averaged just 15mn ft3/d since July – half what it expected and half what it achieved in early July – because Tanzanian state offtaker TPDC had “not yet confirmed a commercial operations date and therefore has not finalised the agreed credit guarantees.” This is understood to be because TPDC is not placing as much gas in the power generation market as it had originally told Aminex would happen.
Aminex is not the first producer to be plagued by delays in payment for Tanzanian gas production, but said it is now being paid regularly in US dollars.
CFO Max Williams though noted that directors had “ given careful consideration to [Aminex’s] ability to continue as a going concern” given the production flow and timing of cash flow from Kiliwani North.
KN-1 gas feeds into a process plant on Songo Songo, but not much is going to market (Photo credit: Aminex)
However, given that Aminex’s open offer last year raised $24.37mn net and it now counts Oman’s Zubair Corporation as a strategic 29.9% shareholder, directors were "satisfied" that Aminex has enough capital, he continued, adding that any spending on new wells could be “assisted if necessary by the successful sale of assets, deferral of planned expenditure or an alternative method of raising capital.”
Aminex shares fell in early March despite a good result at its Ntorya-2 appraisal well in southern Tanzania and have not regained their previous level.
Mark Smedley