Following the results of a 3D seismic shoot, Aminex has upped its hopes for gas resources on the Ruvuma licence in Tanzania.
ARA Petroleum Tanzania (APT) is the operator of the Ruvuma licence. It interpreted the data, based on the 338 square km shoot.
The Ntorya field is assessed to hold 3.45 trillion cubic feet, on a P50 gas initially in place basis. This is an increase from the 2018 figure of 1.64 tcf.
The seismic provided insights into an as yet undrilled unit, which APT will test this year with the Chikumbi-1 appraisal well. Once this well has been drilled, APT plans to carry out a workover on the Ntorya-1.
Success at the well, in the best case scenario, would give a resource of 7.95 tcf, roughly a mean unrisked P10 figure.
However, the wider area has even more potential. There is “considerable undrilled exploration potential” in the broader licence area, Aminex said. Excluding Ntorya, APT has estimated there may be total Pmean unrisked gas initially in place of 8.43 tcf, with a risked Pmean of 2.2 tcf.
RPS provided the original 2018 resource numbers. The company is now updating it and this will feed into a study for initial production. This will focus on the two existing wells – and the Chikumbi-1.
Unlocking activity
For now, the companies are waiting for a development licence. Aminex confirmed to Energy Voice that this “unlocks activity pertaining to the development of the field”. This includes drilling production wells or well workovers.
All the required agencies have approved the licence and they have submitted to the cabinet for final approval. Signing a gas sales agreement with Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp. (TPDC) in January, APT reported the issue of the licence was imminent.
“The authorities also expressed the importance of energy security for the country and its people. With this latest seismic data showing a significantly larger gas resource and with well matured plans to extract the gas for domestic use, we have every confidence of receiving the licence and progressing our work,” said Aminex.
The company declined to comment on plans for a pipeline connection, to the Madimba gas plant. It only said it would support the authorities “any way we can in the early construction of the spur pipeline from Ntorya to the Madimba Gas Plant to accommodate gas extraction from the field”.
Updated at 1:21 pm to clarify RPS’ role.
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