Page 15 - AfrOil Week 44 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

The company changed its schedule after receiv- negotiations on fast-tracking production
ing new information on rig availability and reflects a strong desire of the Tanzanian author-
consulting with Tanzanian authorities and its ities to bring additional gas to the market as
contractors, the statement said. soon as possible and the steadfast commitment
It went on to say that APT had reached an of the operator to move this project forward
advanced state of negotiations with Tanzania at an enhanced pace for the benefit of all par-
Petroleum Development Corp. (TPDC), the ties involved. We would like to thank APT and
national oil company (NOC), on speeding the Tanzanian authorities for their cumulative
up development operations at Ntorya. Once efforts in continuing to progress the project.”
drilling work at the CH-1 site is completed, it Equity in the Ruvuma block is currently split
explained, the new well can be brought online between APT, a subsidiary of ARA Petroleum of
and production restored at two suspended wells, Oman, with 50%; AIM-listed Scirocco Energy,
Ntorya-1 and -2 (NT-1 and -2). NT-1 will have with 25%; and Aminex, with 25%. The part-
to be subjected to a workover operation to fix ners are developing the block under a produc-
a minor leak in the casing string after CH-1 is tion-sharing agreement. Ntorya, the main field
finished, it added. at Ruvuma, may hold as much as 3bn cubic feet
Assuming that these milestones are reached, (84.96 mcm) of gas. ™
gas will be able to start flowing in early 2024,
nearly 12 months ahead of the originally pro-
jected start date, Aminex said. The CH-1, NT-1
and NT-2 wells will eventually yield 60mn cubic
feet (1.699mn cubic metres) per day, and pro-
duction rates could top 140 mcf (3.96 mcm) per
day following the drilling of five more develop-
ment wells, it noted.
Aminex did not reveal full details of the
negotiations with TPDC, but it did say that
Tanzanian authorities “strongly supported”
plans to speed up the start of production. The
government has indicated that TPDC is ready
to build a 30-km pipeline to link the Ntorya field
to an existing processing and pumping station at
Madimba, it stated.
Meanwhile, APT and its joint venture part-
ners in the Ruvuma project have already set the
gross capital budget for 2023 at $30.8mn.
These funds will be used for “the processing
and interpretation of the 3D seismic data, drill-
ing and testing of CH-1, re-entry and worko-
ver of NT-1, together with the purchase of the
necessary manifold, flowlines, fiscal meters and
hook-up system to facilitate early production,”
it said.
Charles Santos, Aminex’s executive chair-
man, said: “Whilst I am disappointed to
announce a delay in the spudding of the impor-
tant CH-1 well, the acceleration of production
is a game-changer for all stakeholders in the
Ruvuma development and will halve the time
to gas production from Ntorya and receipt
of revenues to the Company. The advanced Ntorya is the main gas field within the Ruvuma block (Image: Aminex)

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