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LONDON (Alliance News) - Aminex PLC and Solo Oil PLC saw their shares rise Thursday after Aminex said that interpretation of newly acquired seismic data has extended the potential of the Ntorya appraisal area within the Ruvuma license in Tanzania, and it had further increased its resource estimate for the license by combining the Ntorya discovery with the adjacent Likonde prospect.
Aminex owns 75% of the Ruvuma license and is its operator, while Solo Oil PLC owns the rest. It includes the Ntorya appraisal license, the Mtwara license and the Lindi license. So far, Aminex has drilled the Ntorya-1 discovery well, in Ntorya, and the Likonde-1 appraisal well in the Lindi license, finding gas at Ntorya and oil and gas shows at Likonde. It has been conducting seismic tests to identify the extent of possible resources and where else it should drill.
In a statement, oil and gas explorer and producer Aminex, which has operations in Tanzania, Egypt and Moldova, said the combination of the Ntorya discovery with the adjacent Likonde prospect meant its resource estimate is now 2.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas initially in place, up from 1.9 trillion cubic feet previously.
"The new interpretation has shown that an additional target exists for an appraisal well that would intersect the Ntorya gas and condensate sands encountered in Ntorya-1 and an extension of the Lower Tertiary sands that were found to have oil and gas shows in the earlier Likonde-1 well to the north," Aminex said.
"The results of the newly acquired 2014 seismic programme continue to confirm the significant hydrocarbon potential of the Ruvuma PSA. Based on the detailed and ongoing evaluation of the new seismic and well data, we believe there is potential for a liquids play. This would add further value to the discovered gas that would have access to market via the Dar Es Salaam-Mnazi Bay pipeline, which is on schedule to be completed by the year end and runs through our Ruvuma PSA," Aminex Chief Executive Jay Bhattacherjee said in a statement.
Aminex said the new seismic interpretation, using recently acquired higher quality 2D seismic data, shows that the Likonde prospect comprises two distinct channel sands of which the shallower southern channel extends over the mapped Ntorya Cretaceous gas sand. Ntorya-1, drilled in 2012, failed to intersect this Likonde Tertiary sand channel, which lies just north of the well, but discovered a deeper Cretaceous gas sand that tested gas at a rate of 20.1 million cubic feet per day, equivalent to 3,350 barrels of oil per day. The discovery well was completed for eventual production.
"This all supports our belief that the Ruvuma will rapidly evolve as a gas, and perhaps oil, development area in the next few years, supported by the access to a ready market in Dar es Salaam to which the area is now connected by a pipeline," Solo Oil Executive Director Neil Ritson said in a separate statement.
Aminex shares were up 25.8% at 1.51 pence early Thursday, while Solo Oil was up 11.4% at 0.774 pence, putting both stocks amongst the biggest gainers on the AIM All-Share index.
By Steve McGrath and Joshua Warner; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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