Page 18 - AfrOil Week 04 2023

AfrOil NEWS IN BRIEF AfrOil

Angola’s Supreme Court in December ordered
the preventive seizure of the assets of dos San-
tos. The court order covered 100% of the shares
of the company Embalvidro, of which she is
purported to be the beneficial owner, as well as
the balances of all bank accounts she owned or
co-owned.
Also included were her shares in mobile
networks in Mozambique, Cape Verde and São
Tomé e Príncipe.
bna/IntelliNews, 25 January 2023

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

Predator provides update

on MOU-2 well onshore only be confirmed by wireline logging. formation not previously encountered. The pru-
Morocco to suspend the well was taken, as rates of pene- and leave it in a state to re-enter once a better
At 1,260 metres Measured Depth a decision dent and safer option was to suspend the well

Predator Oil & Gas, the Jersey based Oil and tration had dropped to below 1 metre per hour. understanding of the mud programme required
Gas Company with near-term gas operations Forward Plan: The mud programme and its to drill this particularly complex interval effi-
focussed on Morocco, has announced an update compatibility with the previously not seen sand- ciently and cost-effectively.
on the drilling of the MOU-2 well in the Guercif rich geological formation represented by the “Whilst this is not the result we wanted, the
Petroleum Agreement onshore Morocco. debris-flow will require re-evaluation to achieve pre-drill objectives and potential resources
The MOU-2 well has been suspended with an a more cost-effective rate of penetration. remain unchanged. The Star Valley rig will
option to re-enter after reaching a depth of 1,260 The debris flow potentially forms a highly remain in place over the well head.”
metres Measured Depth. effective seal on the underlying Moulouya Fan. Predator Oil & Gas, 25 January 2023
Wireline logs were acquired from the 95/8” The thickness of the Moulouya Fan reservoir
casing point at 677 metres to 1,010 metres Meas- interval is expected to increase between MOU-1 Puma Energy expands
ured Depth. The wireline logging tools were not and MOU-2 based on the sand content of the
able to log deeper than this depth due the pres- debris-flow penetrated in MOU-2 allowed an diesel storage capacity in
ence of extremely sticky clays in a geological extrapolation across to MOU-1 to be made.
formation overlying the Moulouya Fan primary As a result of this, the MOU-1 perforating Zimbabwe, will build seven
objective. Photographs of the logging tools cov- and testing programme will be more focused
ered in the formation mud have been uploaded and extensive in the principal zone of interest more filling stations
to the Company’s website. to determine potential connectivity with the
Below the logged interval a gross interval of seismically defined area of the Moulouya Fan Swiss oil company Puma Energy (Puma) has
165 metres was penetrated with up to 100 metres between MOU-1 and MOU-2 that is interpreted built a 1mn-litre diesel storage facility in Bula-
of variable quality sand. Presence of significant as potentially gas-bearing. wayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, to serve
thicknesses of sands demonstrate the potential A re-entry and deepening of MOU-2 will be the southwestern parts of the country.
sand source area feeding the Moulouya Fan fully evaluated once a solution to optimising the Company managing director Daniel Duffau
below the debris flow. drilling mud programme and mud properties told state-owned daily The Herald that with the
This geological formation is interpreted to be has been completed. new complex, the target market will enjoy more
a slumped basin margin debris-flow which has Conclusion: The Moulouya Fan target has not reliable fuel supplies.
not been encountered in previous drilling in the been reached yet in MOU-2 as a consequence “Supply to the facility is through rail and can
area. The clays are particularly under-compacted of the requirement to re-evaluate the drilling be replenished in 24 hours; hence, we will not
and sticky due to very rapid deposition within programme through the unexpected geological run dry in the southern region,” the daily cited
the debris-flow. The interval presented a drilling formation encountered in the well. him as saying on January 23.
challenge with very low rates of penetration. Until that re-evaluation is complete and a Zimbabwe has a long history of fuel short-
Presence of significant thicknesses of sands decision to re-enter MOU-2 has been taken, pre- ages, but supplies have been broadly stabilising
in the debris-flow demonstrate the potential drill objectives remain unchanged as do poten- since 2018.
sand source area feeding the Moulouya Fan as tial estimates of gas resources. Duffau said the retailer is setting up seven
mapped pre-drill. The MOU-1 testing programme is being pro- more filling stations in southern Zimbabwe to
Above the depth at which the well was sus- gressed and revised to gather as much informa- the 79 it already runs nationwide, including at
pended a detached transported block of the tion as possible on connectivity of potential gas four local airports.
Moulouya Fan target may have been penetrated. sands over a wide area. Puma, owned by Singapore-headquartered
A gross interval of 28 metres was estimated on Paul Griffiths, Executive Chairman of Pred- global commodity giant Trafigura, entered Zim-
the basis of the well site cutting samples and lith- ator Oil & Gas Holdings, commented: “MOU-2 babwe in November 2013 after acquiring 60% of
ological log. Sixteen metres of potential reservoir has been an extremely challenging well to drill Redan Petroleum.
was interpreted from drilling breaks. This can due to the presence of a particular geological bna/IntelliNews, 24 January 2023

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 04 26•January•2023