Tanzania's Mnazi Bay Rewards Wentworth
Oslo and London-listed east Africa independent Wentworth Resources said its gas sales revenue last year was $4.64mn, up 337% from 2014, thanks to the start of gas sales from Mnazi Bay in southern Tanzania through the new Mtwara-Dar es Salaam pipeline on August 20. In annual results on February 25, the company said its 2015 net income rose by 77% to $27mn.
It expects average Mnazi Bay gross daily gas production of 46mn ft3/d in fourth quarter 2015 to reach 70-80mn ft³/d by late next month as gas turbines start up at the new Kinyerezi power plant, and also at the existing Ubungo plant now being converted from diesel to gas. Both plants are in the capital, Dar es Salaam.
Mnazi Bay partners’ stakes have been 48.06% for French operator Maurel et Prom and 31.94% for Wentworth since gas production began, because of a 20% farm-in by state gas offtaker Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) – which buys the gas at $3/mn Btu.
"We announced an increase of 20% in 2P reserves in our Tanzanian Concession, which is testament to the prospectivity of the Mnazi Bay acreage,” said managing director Geoff Bury. Wentworth would “consider growth opportunities through acquisition, farm-in and/or asset purchase leveraging," he said.
Proven and probable (2P) Mnazi Bay reserves, net to Wentworth, are now 181.1bn ft3 (5.13bn m3), valued at $179.2mn after tax, the firm said. It cited an independent evaluation by Calgary-based RPS that includes favourable data from the MB-4 well drilled last year.
In northeast Mozambique, Wentworth said talks continue with the government there about selecting an operator for the Rovuma Onshore Block, determining the appraisal acreage for Tembo-1 gas discovery, and agreeing to a multi-year appraisal plan. The concession expired last August and all concession partners, except Wentworth and state-owned ENH, said they would relinquish their interests in it – after the Kifaru-1 exploration well in early 2015 proved uneconomic.
Meanwhile Tanzania’s The Citizen newspaper, according to Reuters, has reported that an additional 2.17 trillion ft3 of onshore reserves have been found at a field licensed to UAE-based Dodsal at Ruvu basin near Dar es Salaam. Dodsal’s Tanzanian subsidiary did not respond to an email from NGA for clarification. Most of the reserves proven up in Tanzania in recent years have been offshore.
Mark Smedley