Aminex plc (LON:AEX) today updated investors on its ongoing preparations for planned new drilling at the Ntorya gas project, onshore Tanzania.
The company, which is operator and owns 75% of Ntorya, said it is “actively engaged” with the Tanzanian authorities and with third-party engineering firms, in the advanced stages of planning for the Ntorya-3 well.
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It is presently working to secure a new drilling rig contract which would enable Ntorya-3 and additional exploration and development operations at Ntorya, and potentially other assets in Tanzania.
Previous evaluation saw potential for more than 1.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Ruvuma production sharing contract, which host Ntorya, so there’s plenty of possibilities for new projects and operations.
The company expects to announce a spud date for Ntorya-3 once a rig contract is in place.
Additionally, the company updated investors on the Kiliwani gas production operation where, from a single well, it unearthed some 3,600 million cubic feet of gas through 2017. Production measured 95mln cubic feet in the month of December, without interventions, and the daily rate at the end of the year was 9mln cubic feet per day.
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Aminex said it is now reprocessing its existing seismic data in order to identify new locations for drilling that could supplement the production from the Kiliwani North 1 well. It is targeting locations where new production can be brought online relatively quickly.
Separately, the company also highlighted that desktop work continues to advance for the Tanzania portfolio, with an independent report said to be due for ‘early 2018’.
“The new report will supersede and update all previous reports on the company's concessions in Tanzania, based on newly acquired data and the ongoing reinterpretation of technical data across all assets,” Aminex said in Monday’s statement.
Aminex added that ‘positive discussions’ continue with the Tanzanian authorities to progress the outstanding Ntorya Development Licence application, and it expects to update shareholders as significant milestones are achieved.
In a note to clients, analysts at ‘house’ broker Shore Capital called today's update “very encouraging” and said they believe that the flow rate produced at the Kiliwani North-1 well “is a very good performance.”
In late afternoon trading, after initial gains, Aminex shares slipped 0.05p, or 1.6% lower to 3.05p.
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