Tanzania's Ntorya Gas Field is 'Commercial'
East Africa-focused independent Aminex said February 5 that resources at its Ntorya onshore gas field in the far south of Tanzania have been significantly upgraded, and that it justifies commercial development.
Ntorya P-mean gas initially in place (GIIP) has increased to 1.87 trillion ft3, 44% more than the previously reported management estimates of 1.3 trillion ft3, and a 12-fold increase over a 2015 estimate. The new estimate is the result of an audit by independent resources auditor RPS, which has also assessed Ntorya 2C gross contingent resources of 762.8bn ft3 (11 times more than the 2015 estimate).
A study by io oil & gas consulting, a joint venture of BHGE and McDermott, “confirms the feasibility of developing the Ntorya gas field for commercial production,” said the UK explorer. It added that io found that a gas development project at Ntorya could be viable with three wells, two of which have already been drilled, while a third (Ntorya-3) is scheduled for drilling this year, all producing into a raw-gas pipeline to the Madimba gas plant 33 km away.
Aminex has a 75% operating interest in the Ruvuma onshore Tanzania block, while UK Solo Oil has 25%.
Solo CEO Neil Ritson said: “"A further significant and material resource upgrade made independently by RPS supports [Solo’s] view that Ntorya is a major gas field within the regional market.”
Tanzania has some 40 trillion ft3 offshore that are considered internationally significant but, because of market, fiscal and development cost considerations, may not be developed until well into the 2020s.
Further north in Tanzania, results of a RPS audit on Aminex’s Kiliwani North field, where production has faltered, are less clear-cut: the field structure has P-mean GIIP of 30.8bn ft3, but that 6.4bn ft3 have been produced to date; RPS also estimates 2P Reserves ascribed to the well, after compression is installed, to be 1.94bn ft3. Kiliwani South, the new lead identified, has 57bn ft3 P-mean GIIP, estimates Aminex’s management.
M&P sales value up in 2017
Meanwhile Pertamina-owned Maurel & Prom, which operates the Mnazi Bay, also in Tanzania, said February 5 that demand from the state-owned offtaker TPDC for its Mnazi Bay gas rose steadily in 2017 to reach average production of 62.2mn ft3 (at 100% equity) in 4Q 2017. It said average annual production at the field (again at 100%) was 43.1mn ft3/d in 2017, 14% higher than in 2016. M&P expects TPDC demand – linked to industrial gas consumption in Dar Es Salaam – to rise further in 2018, which echoes remarks by its partner, Wentworth Resources.
M&P said overall sales value in 2017 increased by 14% in 2017 to $400mn thanks to higher year on year oil prices, with net equity production declining by 3% in Gabon to 21,756 b/d oil, but rising 14% in Tanzania (Mnazi) to 20.7mn ft3/d – giving an overall net figure of 25,202 boe/d, down 5%.
Update March 9: M&P posted 2017 net income of €7mn, following its €50mn loss in 2016, announcing a redevelopment of its Gabonese oilfields in 1H2018 after a three year halt, and providing a revised 2017 equity gas production figure for Tanzania of 23.6mn ft3/d, up 14% .