Page 7 - AfrOil Week 50 2020

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Tamboran added that it expected to secure over the next year, making this one of the most
regulatory approval in early 2021 and once the active onshore exploration plays globally. These
deal closed it would wholly own and operate next 12 months are crucial as the Beetaloo grad-
exploration permits (EPs) 136, 143 and 197(A). uates from being viewed as an exploration play
It described the acquisition of the new licences to the world-class commercial development
as “highly strategic”, significantly expanding its opportunity that we believe it is.”.
presence in the Beetaloo sub-basin beyond its
current 25% working interest in Santos’s EP 161. If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
The company also said the deal would allow Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
it to become an operator in the basin once again, NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.
after Santos farmed into EP 161 in 2012. The
junior said the Sweetpea acquisition not only DMEA: Nigeria’s unfulfilled gas potential
consolidated the company’s Beetaloo Basin Nigeria needs to make more use of its abundant
focus, where it “has developed in-depth techni- gas resource in order to bring down energy costs,
cal knowledge”, but it also provides for significant lower its emissions and spur economic growth,
“reserve growth”. Nigeria LNG (NLNG) CEO Tony Attah said at a Both NLNG and
Tamboran said: “EP136 sits adjacent to EP161 conference last week.
and, in combination, [they] cover the portion of While Nigeria is better known as Africa’s big- the government
the Beetaloo sub-basin with the thickest and gest oil producer, it also holds 200 trillion feet
highest quality shales as delineated by seismic (5.4 trillion cubic metres) of proven natural gas. have complained
and intersection by wells drilled to date.” According to the NLNG head, “it’s about time
At the start of the month, Tamboran said that Nigeria really takes advantage of this resource.” about Nigeria’s
EP136 held the potential to turn the company The consortium’s LNG plant on Bonny Island slow pace in
into a major developer of shale gas for the East can produce up to 22.5mn tonnes per year (tpy)
Coast market. The company cited the flow test of LNG. The consortium last year took a final growing its LNG
results from EP161’s Tanumbirini-1, the first investment decision (FID) on adding a seventh
vertical well drilled on the block. train and de-bottlenecking the project, which export capacity
The developer said in October that the should expand its output to 30mn tpy in 2024.
Tanumbirini-1 well had achieved an average Both the consortium and the government
flow rate of 2.3 mmcf (65,000 cubic metres) per have complained about the country’s slow pace
day during the first 90 hours of testing follow- in growing its LNG export capacity. The coun-
ing a more than 160-day shut-in. It added that try was the world’s fourth-biggest LNG exporter
Tanumbirini-1’s flow results suggest that a single until last year, when it moved down to fifth posi-
well in the core Beetaloo could produce in excess tion after being replaced by the US.
of 10 mmcf (283,000 cubic metres) per day and “We have to set our sights on Trains 8, 9 and
a total of more than 10 bcf (283.2 mcm) over its 10,” Attah said. He also called for Nigeria to
whole lifespan. expand its use of gas at home, in areas ranging
Santos is planning on drilling the Tanumbir- from petrochemicals and power generation to
ini 2H and Tanumbirini 3H horizontal wells in motor transport and home cooking.
EP 161 next year. EPs 136 and 161 lie adjacent In other news over the past week, Kuwait has
to Origin Energy and Falcon Oil & Gas’ EP76, brought on stream its largest crude distillation
where all civil engineering and constructions unit (CDU) at the Mina Abdullah refinery. The
have been completed and the 76-N2H horizontal unit was launched as part of Kuwait’s Clean Fuels
well is planned for 2021. Project (CFP), which involves the upgrade of the
Tamboran CEO and Managing Director Joel Mina Abdullah and Mina Al Ahmadi refineries
Riddle said: “In total, this area may see between to increase their output and create cleaner and
three and five new delineation wells or results higher-value products.

Week 50 16•December•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7