Petroleum Africa
Find us on: 
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Noble Helium has successfully completed wireline logging and sampling at the Mbelele-2 well, at the company’s 100% owned North Rukwa Helium Project in Tanzania.
Mbelele-2 was spudded on November 16 and similar to Mbelele-1 soon encountered helium-enriched gas bubbling in the mud system, initially at 140mMD, which may correlate laterally to the formation at Mbelele-1 that contained the probable nitrogen-helium gas cap at 85mMD. This bubbling with helium shows repeated at multiple intervals throughout the entire drilled section to immediately above Total Depth of 763.5mMD.
Noble says the results provide a clear indication of high levels of gas saturation and availability of helium at Mbelele, in line with the company’s growing body of evidence and conviction that the North Rukwa Basin hosts a prolific helium system.
Preliminary interpretation of the Mbelele-2 open-hole section, drilled from casing point at 250mMD to top basement at 722mMD, shows the well encountered approximately 163m of stacked net reservoir in the Middle and Lower Lake Beds.
The total net reservoir thickness of 163m compares very favorably to the 47.5m net reservoir encountered at Mbelele-1 in the Upper and Middle Lake Beds and is significantly greater than the pre-drill estimates (~20m in this interval).
These reservoirs are again of excellent quality. Petrophysical evaluation of SLB’s wireline logs demonstrate good to very good porosities and permeabilities, which are slightly lower than Mbelele-1 but significantly thicker. High mobilities, similar to Mbelele-1 and consistently >100mD/cP and up to 780 mD/cP, provide very high flow potential.
Noble Helium CEO Justyn Wood, commented: “Our maiden drilling program has been an incredible success, both operationally and in confirming the potential for a significant helium resource at Mbelele. Multiple data points throughout the drilling campaign point to a prolific helium system: a probable 10-15 meter column of nitrogen and helium at the crest, helium-rich downhole samples calculated at 2-3% helium in exsolved gas and helium-rich gas bubbles in the drilling mud at multiple depths in both wells.
“These results also significantly de-risk the balance of the Company’s North Rukwa acreage, with clear evidence we are in a globally unique and prolific helium producing system, supporting the Company’s well-researched thesis that the North Rukwa rift basin has the potential to emerge as a globally significant primary helium province.
“The new reservoir thicknesses and other acquired data will now be applied to updating the reservoir models and other technical work with a view to satisfying the SPE-PRMS requirements for declaration of a discovery…”
The Noble Helium announcement with additional data and log readings can be found here.
" alt="World Heading for 3-degree C Warming Trajectory, as Political Headwinds Slow the Energy Transition">
" alt="VAALCO Energy Publishes its 2023 Sustainability Report">
" alt="Sound Energy Gets Extra Time on Morocco’s Anoual Exploration Permits">
" alt="Exxonmobil and NBA Africa Launch Jr. National Basketball Association League in Mozambique">
" alt="Africa Finance Corp Invests $14.1 Million in Developing Xlinks’ Morocco-UK Power Project">
" alt="Aminex Bags New Funding Facility">
" alt="BW Energy Announces $150 Million Sale & Leaseback of Mabomo Production Facility">
" alt="Chevron Acquires 80% and Operator Status of Namibia’s Offshore PEL 82">
