Tanzania Farmout Needs More Time: Aminex
AIM-listed Tanzanian gas producer Aminex Petroleum has provided an update on its planned farmout of its Ruvuma onshore licence, in Tanzania but near the Mozambican border.
A binding agreement to farm out a 50% Ruvuma interest – including the Ntorya gas find – to Oman-based Zubair Corporation was announced in July 2018, when completion was expected by November 30.
In a November 21 statement, however, Aminex said that, further to that July agreement, it and Zubair had agreed to extend the 'long-stop' date of the transaction to March 31 2019. Aminex added that it now expects to post a circular about the farmout to its shareholders by end-November and convene an extraordinary general meeting to approve the farmout in December.
The Ntorya gas discovery contains almost 1.9 trillion ft3 (53bn m3) of gas, according to Aminex. If completed, it would have a 25% interest and Zubair 50%, while AIM-listed Solo Oil would retain 25%.
Aminex CEO Jay Bhattacherjee said: "We are making good progress on the Ruvuma farmout. When completed, this will accelerate development and is intended to give Aminex a full carry to significant production and free cash flows with no further recourse to funding." He said planning and preparations for Ntorya operations, including the Chikumbi-1 appraisal well and 3D seismic, were underway.