Chronicle Editor
Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
AUSTRALIAN oil and gas exploration firm, Invictus Energy, which is developing the Muzarabani project in Mashonaland Central province has completed this year’s seismic survey that began in September.
Seismic survey in oil and gas exploration refers to the process of using high-tech equipment to listen to underground sound vibrations in order to determine the existence of hydro-carbons.
The seismic data collection for the Muzarabani oil and gas project was undertaken to identify the best spots to drill exploration wells.
In a latest update this week, Invictus Energy said the Cabora Bassa 2021 seismic survey (CB21 Survey) has been completed with a total of 839,5 kilometres of high resolution 2D seismic data acquired.
“A total of 402,2km of data was acquired in Special Grant 4571 and following approvals a further 437,1 km of contiguous data was acquired in an existing application area.
“The CB21 Seismic Survey significantly exceeds the company’s minimum work programme obligations of 300 km of 2D seismic data for the current licence period, which runs to June 2024,” it said.
The remaining geophone retrieval, sad the company, was completed on Tuesday this week with final data harvesting expected to be completed in the coming days.
The demobilisation of equipment and personnel has commenced and was expected to be completed next week, it added.
The CB21 Seismic Survey generated nearly 200 direct jobs during the campaign for the local Muzarabani and Mbire communities as well as the procurement of goods and services from local suppliers in keeping with the company’s strong local content policy.
The firm, which is the parent firm of Geo-Associates that holds the Muzarabani special grant, has of late registered significant progress in trying to establish if there were commercially viable reserves of oil and gas in Zimbabwe’s Cabora Bassa Basin, a geological formation underlying the Muzarabani area.
In the early 1990s, Mobil, a France-headquartered firm carried out initial seismic surveys but decided not to follow it up.
However, Invictus Energy using more modern data processing techniques, reprocessed the data gathered and found strong evidence that the underlying geological structures had the domes and traps that could indicate oil and gas in Muzarabani.
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