admin
Oliver Kazunga
Senior Business Reporter
INVICTUS Energy, the Australia-headquartered firm searching for oil and gas in Cabora Bassa, north of Zimbabwe, has commenced mobilisation of the Exalo Rig 202 to the Mukuyu-2 wellsite ahead of exploration drilling.
The Cabora Bassa Basin lies in Mbire and Muzarabani districts of Mashonaland Central Province. Mobilisation of the Exalo Rig 202 to Mukuyu-2 wellsite comes hard on the heels of the Mukuyu-1 prospect exploration drilling conducted in September last year, which showed Zimbabwe had hydrocarbons.
Technical glitches encountered during Mukuyu-1 exploration drilling meant Invictus could not extract a fluid sample to fulfil the regulatory requirements of the Australia Stock Exchange to declare a commercial discovery.
Declaration of commercial discovery will pave the way for the process to commence production, which would provide Zimbabwe with another reliable source of energy.
Oil and gas production would also open avenues for accelerated economic growth and development through the sprouting of downstream industries, new job creation and growth in export earnings and Government revenue.
Invictus Energy has reportedly identified 13 potential hydro-carbon-bearing zones at the Mukuyu-1 well.
In an update last week, Invictus managing director Scott Macmillan said, “The commencement of the rig mobilisation marks another milestone in the project as we prepare to commence drilling the Mukuyu-2 appraisal well as a follow-up from our highly successful basin opening Mukuyu-1/ST-1 well to confirm a discovery.
“The Mukuyu-2 well will be located approximately 6,8 kilometres north-east from Mukuyu-1 and over 400 metres up-dip at the primary Upper Angwa target, which provides the potential to prove a material discovery upon success.”
He said Mukuyu-2 will be a near vertical well with a planned total depth of an estimated 3 700 metres that would also enable the company to penetrate the untested Lower Angwa reservoirs in this location.
“The preparation of the well services equipment to be followed by independent QAQC (Quality Assurance and Quality Control) ahead of mobilisation to the Mukuyu-2 wellsite is well underway and we remain on track to spud in September,” said Mr Macmillan.
Construction of the Mukuyu-2 wellpad has been completed following the finalisation of civil works including pad levelling and compaction, water supply and reservoirs while the wellsite has been inspected and approved by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) in line with the Environmental Management Plan.
Evaluation of technical data from results of recent exploration drilling confirmed that Zimbabwe holds substantial oil and gas reserves akin to recent discoveries in regional countries such as Namibia and Uganda, which however had to drill several hundreds of holes before success.
In 1974, Namibia commenced drilling and did close to 100 dry holes before hitting the first “sweet spot”.
It is hoped that the first benefits from commercial production of the basin are likely to come from natural gas. A gas power station can be built very quickly and natural gas needs little processing to be used as a power station fuel.
Natural gas can be used as a prime feedstock for ammonia-based fertilisers, and this is why there is keen interest in a pipeline from Muzarabani to Kwekwe.
Online Reporter