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Thursday, November 28, 2013
Ophir Energy commenced drilling on Block 7 offshore Tanzania. The well, the Mlinzi Mbali-1, was spud buy the Deepsea Metro I drillship. The well is located in a water depth of approximately 2,600 meters and has a planned total depth of 5,650 meters true vertical depth. Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 50 days.
Mlinzi Mbali-1 is the first well on Block 7 and is targeting a structural crest within a Lower Cretaceous channel complex, with secondary targets in the Upper Cretaceous and the Jurassic. Pre-drill estimates show that the two primary channel reservoirs in the Lower Cretaceous have the potential to contain Pmean prospective resources of around 10 Tcf. Success would significantly de-risk the total resource potential within the overall Mlinzi Channel complex as well as in other structures within the Block.
Nick Cooper, CEO, commented: “Mlinzi Mbali-1 is a playfinder well designed as the first test of the Cretaceous and Jurassic plays in the Northern Tanzanian Coastal Basin, and is the first of several high-impact wells that Ophir will be drilling over the next 12 months. The Mlinzi Mbali prospect is one of the largest prospects (on pre-drill estimates) to be drilled to date offshore East Africa. It is a high-risk frontier well, but in the success case this could unlock a significant new gas resource to support a second LNG project for Tanzania, following on from the deepwater discoveries already made in Blocks 1-4 to the south.”
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