Excitement builds as Aminex chases explorer’s holy grail
Posted on :Thursday , 22nd September 2016
With drilling expected to run through the fourth quarter, and some fast track production targetted soon after, no wonder there's excitement for upcoming Ruvuma programme.
New phase of work in Tanzania aims to establish the kind of production that can sustain and ‘self-funding’ the group’s continuing expansion.
Such an aspiration is, as chief executive Jay Bhattacherjee describes, the “holy grail” for all exploration and production companies.
Work is to get underway in six-to-eight weeks on the first of two wells on Aminex’s giant gas discovery in Tanzania’s Ruvuma basin.
Bhattacherjee, speaking in a Proactive Investors interview, explained that the Ruvuma programme’s first results are expected by around Christmas.
It is expected that the first of the new wells, Ntorya-2, will take 50-60 days to drill, followed by testing.
Remember, the company first discovered this gas in early 2012, with the Ntorya-1 well which is located just 1.5 kilometres from the new well site.
It has taken more almost five years for Aminex, which owns 75% of the massive 3,447 square-kilometre Ruvuma licence, to land the funding for two follow-up holes.
The injection came this summer, with Oman’s Zubair Corporation cornerstoning a £19.5mln share placing.
Aminex’s plan is to complete Ntorya-2 and 3 in fairly quick succession with the aim of bringing one of two into production soon after.
The first will appraise the original discovery, which came in at 70bn cubic feet, while the second will assess the potential of the Cretaceous and Tertiary reservoirs, estimated to be host to 1.5trln cubic feet of gas.
Discoveries could be brought on-stream using the main Ruvuma pipeline and facilities, which became operational last year.
“It is an issue of getting both of the wells down and, depending on the results of both of the wells, we will choose a system that will that is going to allow us to get to cash flow as quickly as possible,” Bhattacherjee told Proactive’s Sarah Lowther.
The company is already generating cash from its onshore Kiliwani North well. “[It] more than covers our G&A [general and administrative] needs,” said the Aminex chief.
“We have supportive shareholders who are looking to build the business to something a little more sizeable than it is now.
“And we are looking to grow starting with Ruvuma, which is a big prize for us, and then beyond that as well.”
Excitement is building around the Aminex story ahead of the drill programme, with the share price up 53% in the last three months to 1.77p. It could be a very interesting run up to Christmas.
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