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AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

The Ntorya section of the block may hold more than 21 bcm of gas (Image: Aminex)

The shareholders have already drawn up the raised its stake in the block from 25% to 75% last
work programme and budget needed to launch month and also assumed operatorship through
the programme “in the second and third quarter the completion of a farm-in deal with Ndovu
of 2021, to align with the next available opera- Resources, an affiliate of UK-based Aminex.
tional weather window in Tanzania,” it said. Tom Reynolds, Scirocco’s CEO, expressed
Sticking to this schedule will allow the part- satisfaction with recent developments. “We are
ners to gather data ahead of the spudding of the very encouraged by the progress made by the
Chikumbi-1 exploration well in January 2022, APT team in the short time they have been on
Scirocco said. In the meantime, the statement licence as operator, and the JV is benefiting from
noted, the joint venture is ready to begin con- the significant work already put in by APT prior
tracting and procurement operations for the to formalisation of the farm-in,” he was quoted
goods and services needed to execute its drilling as saying in the statement. “We are wholly sup-
programme, including long-lead items (LLIs) portive of the plan and budget put forward by
such as the rig and wellhead. It will also start APT and have been impressed by the technical
carrying out the civil works needed to prepare capabilities demonstrated thus far. This update
the drilling site, it said. sets out a clear roadmap of intensive operational
These exploration plans and work schedules activity, which will better define the potential of
are covered in the revised $22.8mn budget that what we believe to be a world-class discovery in
the joint venture intends to submit to the Tan- Ntorya.”
zanian government, Scirocco said. It also stated The Ruvuma licence area lies in southern
that its share of these budget expenses would be Tanzania, near the border with Mozambique.
$5.7mn, in line with its 25% stake in the project. Aminex and ARA have already discovered gas
All of the remaining equity in Ruvuma is at Ntorya, a section of the block that may hold
owned by ARA Petroleum Tanzania (APT), as much as 763bn cubic feet (21.607bn cubic
an affiliate of ARA Petroleum of Oman. APT metres) in recoverable reserves. ™

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