Solo Oil plc (LON:SOLO) today announced the following updates concerning its oil and gas operations in Tanzania.
Ntorya-3 Well
Aminex plc (“Aminex”), the operator of the Ruvuma Petroleum Sharing Contract (“Ruvuma PSC”), has announced that the partnership are progressing towards drilling the second appraisal well, Ntorya-3 (“NT-3”), on the Ntorya gas field discovery as soon as practically possible. Aminex is actively engaged with the Tanzanian authorities and third party engineering firms on advanced well planning and drilling management plans. Tendering is in progress for a rig which will also be suitable for exploration and development drilling in the Ntorya gas field and potentially the Company’s other assets in Tanzania. Anticipated spud date for NT-3 will be announced once a rig has been secured.
Kiliwani North
At the producing Kiliwani North gas field, where Aminex is also the operator, Solo is pleased to advise that the Kiliwani North-1 well produced an aggregate 95 million cubic feet (“mmscf”) of gas during the month of December, without intervention, due to natural pressure recharge allowing the well to flow at rates up to approximately 9 mmscfd. Total gross production from the well in 2017 was 3.6 billion cubic feet (“bcf”). In order to maximise recovery from Kiliwani North-1 Aminex and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation are cooperating on the installation of compression facilities.
Aminex has advised that they are currently reprocessing existing seismic data over the Kiliwani North block and the adjoining Nyuni Area acreage close to the Songo Songo Island gas processing plant with the aim of identifying potential new drilling targets which could be brought on stream relatively quickly and would supplement gas production from the existing Kiliwani North-1 well.
CPR and Ntorya Development Licence
Work continues on the independent evaluation report of Solo and Aminex’s Tanzanian resources and this remains on track to be completed in early 2018. Solo holds a 25% interest in the Ruvuma PSC and a 7.55% interest in the Kiliwani North Development Licence, both of which will be covered by the planned Competent Persons Report (“CPR”). The new report will update and supersede all previous reports on the Solo’s oil and gas concessions in Tanzania, and will be based on newly acquired well data and the ongoing reinterpretation of all technical data.
The Company also notes that positive discussions are ongoing with the Tanzanian authorities to progress the outstanding Ntorya Development Licence application and shareholders will be updated on significant milestones when acheived.
Neil Ritson, Solo Oil Plc Executive Chairman, commented: “We are happy to see that planning for further development at Ntorya is progressing and that suitable drilling equipment is being sought for the drilling of the Ntorya-3 well. Production at Kiliwani North has continued, and will be enhanced with compression in due course, which is an encouraging development. The new CPR is a key step in realising value at Ntorya and we look forward to its conclusion, which we understand remains reasonably on track and is expected to be completed in the next month.”
