Page 13 - AfrOil Week 42 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

As a result, Coral South LNG is set to become potential to benefit Europe by helping it to sta-
the first to bring Mozambique’s gas to market. bilise gas supplies.
The African state’s reserves amount to around European gas markets have been in turmoil
180 trillion cubic feet (5.1 trillion cubic metres) this year as a result of reduced deliveries from
of gas, most of which are offshore in the Rovuma Russia following that country’s invasion of
basin where the three consortia have licences. Ukraine in February 2022.
Rovuma gas exports are expected to gen- “The stars have re-aligned for Mozambican
erate 0.3% of the total revenue of the Mozam- gas projects, which could not only uplift the
bican state next year, which will be the first full Mozambican economy and help deliver secure
12-month period of production from Coral energy for industrial development, but also help
South LNG, Lusa noted, citing the national alleviate worldwide supply shortages,” com-
budget draft for 2023. mented Jonathan Ross, Head: Oil and Gas Sec-
Mozambican gas production also has the tor Solutions at RMB in London. ™

Invictus Energy encounters “minor”

delay in Zimbabwe exploration drilling

ZIMBABWE INVICTUS Energy, an ASX-traded company
exploring for natural gas in northeastern Zim-
babwe, has reported encountering “minor”
delays in a drilling programme it launched on
September 23.
The company made an announcement to this
effect while responding to an ASX query on the
fall in Invictus’ per-share price from AUD0.21
on October 10 to AUD0.155 on October 14.
ASX sought to understand whether the explorer
was aware of any information that had not been
announced to the market that, if known by some
on the market, could explain the fall in its share
price. In a release on October 17, Invictus said it
was not aware of any such information.
“As per the drilling update for the Mukuyu-1
well provided in an ASX release on [October
5], the 17’’ hole section was drilled to a depth of
593m measured depth. Subsequently, the 13-3/8
inch casing was run and cemented in place and
the blowout preventer installed in preparation
to drill ahead in the 12-1/4 inch intermediate
hole section through the first prospective tar-
gets,” it said. “The company has encountered The Mukuyu-1 well is targeting 566.4 bcm of gas (Image: Invictus)
some minor delays in preparation for, and
whilst drilling the 12-1/4 inch hole section due the largest undrilled conventional global explo-
to rig maintenance and failures of measuring ration targets in the world.
while drilling evaluation tools. The company The acreage was explored by Mobil in the
first became aware of the minor delays during 1990s, but the US firm abandoned it after noting
the week ended 14 October 2022; these minor that it contained more gas than oil.
delays are often encountered during normal oil- In an attempt to explain the possible varia-
field drilling operations.” tion in its share prices, Invictus said that after its
Invictus is drilling Mukuyu-1, the first of two announcements on September 26 and October
exploration wells it intends to sink at its Cabora 5, the market may have anticipated a further
Basin target in the north-eastern of the southern update and speculated on the likelihood of suc-
African country. Work on the first well is pro- cess or failure at Mukuyu-1.
jected to last between 50 and 60days. It also stressed that it had not given any
Mukuyu-1 is expected to contain 20 trillion indications as to the outcome of its drilling pro-
cubic feet (566.4bn cubic metres) of gas and gramme, saying: “Invictus confirms it has no
845mn barrels of gas condensate in conven- results analysed or available for release in rela-
tional reserves. It is, according to Invictus, one of tion to the company’s initial targets.” ™

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