Page 15 - AfrOil Week 16 2021

AfrOil NEWS IN BRIEF AfrOil

UPSTREAM strong commitment to community employ- end of 2021 and the rig tender process is already
ment, Polaris’s corporate goals are to implement underway. Separately, AEC has announced the
Invictus awards seismic an 85% local content policy on all of its opera- completion of a farm-out whereby Azinam will
take a 50% share and operatorship in Block 2B.
tions regarding employment, supplies and con-
acquisition contract to sumables. The campaign will involve the training Azinam is a private Southern Africa-focused oil
and deployment of approximately 80 local field and gas exploration company supported by Sea-
Polaris Natural Resources crew for the seismic acquisition programme. pulse Ltd., a vehicle backed by Robert Friedland
The Cabora Bassa Project encompasses the and Seacrest.
Invictus, following the recent signing of the Mzarabani Prospect, a multi-trillion cubic foot Block 2B is located in the Orange Basin and
PEDPA with the Republic of Zimbabwe, has and liquids-rich conventional gas-condensate covers 3,062 square km off the west coast of
awarded Polaris Natural Resources, Canada’s target, which is potentially the largest, undrilled South Africa 300 km north of Cape Town with
longest standing seismic company, a contract to seismically defined structure onshore Africa. water depths ranging from 50 to 200 metres. Oil
provide acquisition services for its first 2D seis- The prospect is defined by a robust dataset was discovered and tested by Soekor in the A-J1
mic programme in the Cabora Bassa Basin. acquired by Mobil inthe early 1990s that includes borehole drilled in 1988. Thick reservoir sand-
Polaris has conducted over 1,000 seismic seismic, gravity, aeromagnetic and geochemical stones were intersected between 2,985 meters
projects since 1996 and introduced the first data. and 3,350 meters. The well was tested and flowed
“low-impact seismic crew” into Africa in 2008. Invictus Energy, April 21 2021 191 barrels of oil per day of 36 degree API oil
Polaris has conducted over 15 projects in East from a 10 meter sandstone interval at about
Africa and has been well accepted in all commu- Panoro farms in to Block 2B 3,250 meters. Significant prospectivity has been
nities where they have operated. Polaris will also identified over the entire A-J graben area using
deploy the world’s newest and smallest wireless offshore South Africa 686 square kilometers of 3D seismic data from
recording nodes and receivers. 2013.
Bill Mooney, Polaris CEO, states: “Polaris is Panoro Energy has received governmental Panoro Energy, April 20 2021
very pleased to support Invictus on this world- approval and closed the previously announced
class project. The combination of technologies farmout agreement (FOA) on Block 2B offshore BW Energy restarts drilling
being employed represent not only the lightest South Africa.
seismic footprint possible, but also allows for John Hamilton, CEO Panoro, said: “Follow- at Dussafu offshore Gabon
very fast and high resolution data acquisition. ing our recently announced successful entry into
The Company intends to conduct, process, and Equatorial Guinea, we are pleased to now be BW Energy is pleased to announce the re-start
interpret a minimum of 400 line-km of 2D seis- adding a further country into our growing port- of a three-well drilling campaign on the Dus-
mic in order to refine the Mzarabani-1 drilling folio of African E&P assets. Block 2B represents a safu license offshore Gabon consisting of two
location and well path and identify additional compelling exploration opportunity for Panoro, exploration wells in the Hibiscus area and one
prospectivity for the upcoming drilling cam- in a country with exciting world class oil and gas production well on the Tortue field. The Borr
paign. The proposed seismic survey will be con- discoveries. The Gazania-1 well is an explora- Norve jack-up rig has been contracted for the
ducted with a minimal environmental footprint tion prospect updip of an existing oil discovery campaign.
and utilise existing roads and tracks wherever with material potential upside. We look forward The current campaign will start with the
possible.” to drilling this well with our partners, Africa Hibiscus Extension appraisal well (DHIBM-2)
Polaris will begin mobilising the seismic Energy and Azinam, by the end of the year.” which is located about 56 km from the coast in
equipment and personnel to Harare in the com- In 2020, Panoro signed the FOA with a sub- 119-metre water depth. The well is planned as
ing weeks to undergo preparation for the acqui- sidiary of Africa Energy Corp. (AEC), part of the a vertical well to test the northern extension of
sition before deploying to the field. Lundin Group of Companies. Under the terms the Gamba reservoir of the already discovered
Community and Local Content: The Com- of the FOA, Panoro will acquire a 12.5% inter- Hibiscus field. If the well is found to be hydro-
pany continues to engage and meet with our est and carry the relevant AEC subsidiary for carbon-bearing, one or two appraisal side-tracks
stakeholders, and we remain committed to hir- up to $2.5mn of the well cost; Panoro’s funding may be drilled to further delineate the field.
ing local and national experts, and to procuring of costs is subject to escrow funds being depos- The appraisal well will provide new input
products and services in the region and through- ited by Azinam prior to the rig contract being to the ongoing Hibiscus/Ruche development
out Zimbabwe. In keeping with the Company’s signed. The well is expected to be spud by the project, which is currently based on the already
discovered 46.1mn barrels gross 2P reserve at
Hibiscus and the 24.1mn barrels discovered
at Ruche and Ruche North East. The develop-
ment project is planned to consist of a converted
jack-up rig tied back to the FPSO with 12 devel-
opment wells drilled in two phases, with first oil
expected in Q1-2023. The additional reserves
at Hibiscus, if proven by DHIBM-2, may lead
to relocation of the first converted jack-up and
the potential deployment of a second converted
jack-up to fully exploit the resources in this pro-
lific area of Dussafu.
The timing of the first oil from the area would
not be affected.
BW Energy, April 19 2021

Week 16 21•April•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P15