The Ntorya-2 appraisal well in Tanzania should begin drilling in early December, according to Fergus Jenkins, technical director of Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO).
Solo is the junior partner with 25% of the Ruvuma onshore licence, host to the Ntorya gas discovery and soon to be the site for two further wells.
Fellow explorer Aminex plc (LON:AEX) is the operator and major shareholder.
It is in charge of mobilising the rig that will be used to sink the next hole into Ntorya’s gas-bearing Cretaceous layer.
LISTEN: Fergus Jenkins' update on Ntorya-2
NEWS: Aminex on track in Tanzania
“According to the latest schedule we are holding we believe we will be in a position to start drilling in early December,” Jenkins told Proactive Investors.
In a previous interview, Aminex chief Jay Bhattacherjee said he was keen to establish self-funding production from Ntorya.
Jenkins said there were a number of options open to the companies in this regard.
“We can have an early production scheme potentially that would take the gas to local industry. The most obvious candidate for that is a cement factory that’s not too far from our facilities,” he said.
Longer-term there is the opportunity to tap into the main pipeline that ships gas from the south to Dar es Salaam. “This is a market that is growing exponentially,” said Jenkins.
Earlier, Aminex said a drill rig has now been mobilised following the completion of civil works at the Ntorya-2 site in Tanzania.
Around 1.5km from Ntorya-1, the second well will target 153bn cubic (BCF) feet of gas.
Aminex, which owns 75% of the Ruvuma acreage that is host potentially to as much as 1trln cubic feet of gas, sees Ntorya-2 as a low risk appraisal project.
Work will begin later this quarter and is expected to take between 45 and 60 days.
The original well, completed in 2012, flow tested at 20mln cubic feet of gas a day with 139 barrels of gas condensate.
Ntorya-2 is being drilled into thicker part of the sand body located on the seismic data in 2014.