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According to the statement, the resultsshow and processes for a working petroleum system
that the well encountered more than 200 metres are all present.”
of crude oil and natural gas shows over three Thomas Alweendo, the head of MME, hailed
separate intervals within a stacked sequence the results of the analysis programme, saying:
of source rock and reservoir. “Extraction of oil “This is a great period for the people of Namibia,
from these samples and subsequent fingerprint- with the results of the well confirming a big
ing for key characteristics of the liquids support potential for a very valuable energy resource for
an active petroleum system with multiple source our country and therefore a significant develop-
intervals,” ReconAfrica said. ment for Namibia onshore exploration efforts.
Dan Jarvie, a member of ReconAfrica’s advi- The positive results of this well have provided us
sory board who also serves as one of the com- with the critical information required to unlock
pany’s petroleum systems chemists, said: “These the country’s petroleum prospectivity and is the
shows are indicative of migrated, thermogenic first step in the process of locating significant
petroleum and occur over three different inter- accumulations. We can now confidently con-
vals in the 6-2 test well. The intervals penetrated firm Namibia is endowed with an active onshore
include highly porous, permeable sediments petroleum basin.”
and marine source rocks as predicted, and an ReconAfrica’s next task will be to drill
extensive marine carbonate lithofacies. Mud gas another exploration well. The firm recently
results indicate a high BTU gas with the pres- began moving its rig to the drilling site for the
ence of light oil in numerous cutting samples. 6-1 well, which is 16 km north of 6-2. “This sec-
Based on these initial results, the components ond well is designed to evaluate the petroleum

Shell, Equinor call on Tanzania to make

“critical decisions” about LNG project

TANZANIA REPRESENTATIVES of Royal Dutch Shell
(UK/Netherlands) and Equinor (Norway)
have urged Tanzania’s government to wrap up
talks on an ambitious LNG project as quickly as
possible, so that the scheme is not sidelined or
otherwise affected by the upcoming transition
to renewable fuels.
In an editorial published by The Citizen, a
Tanzanian newspaper, Equinor’s country man-
ager Mette Halvorsen Ottoy and her counterpart
at Shell, Frederik Grootendorst, asserted that
the time had come for “critical decisions” on the
Tanzania LNG project.
“Natural gas has a key part to play in the
global energy transition, but the window in
which to act to develop new resources is lim-
ited,” they wrote. “Tanzania is encouraged to do
so now by demonstrating its commitment and Equinor’s Block 2 is slated to provide gas for Tanzania LNG (Image: Equinor)
successfully restarting negotiations on the host
government agreement and pledging to con- for a review of the country’s production-shar-
clude them in a timely manner.” ing regime. The Magufuli administration had
Fast action will help the East African state intended to resume discussions late last year,
realise the potential of its offshore gas reserves, after Tanzania’s presidential election. However,
they added. “A huge opportunity for Tanzania this decision to wait did not pay off; Magufuli
to benefit from its rich gas resources is within did win another term, but he did not return to
its grasp. 2021 must be the year when action is the matter of Tanzania LNG before his death in
taken to conclude the negotiations,” they said. March 2021.
By contrast, his successor Samia Suluhu Has-
Political considerations san has said she wants to push the long-delayed
Ottoy and Grootendorst were referring to Tan- project forward. Earlier this month, Hassan
zanian authorities’ decision to suspend talks urged the Ministry of Energy and Minerals to
on the LNG project in late 2019 in response bring negotiations on the $30bn LNG project to
to then-President John Magufuli’s demand a close as quickly as possible.

Week 16 21•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13