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OIL and gas exploration firm Invictus Energy says initial results from wireline logging, which show potential for hydrocarbons, are encouraging with the Mukuyu-1 well trajectory on track for completion.
Recently, the Australia-headquartered firm began drilling for commercial quantities of oil and gas at the Cabora Bassa Basin in Muzarabani.
It said the project is one of the largest oil and gas exploration prospects to be drilled globally this year and if successful, could be transformative for the company and Zimbabwe.
In an update, Invictus Energy managing director, Mr Scott Macmillan, said following the completion of the first suite of wireline logging, a zone of interest in the secondary objective in the 200 Horizon target coincident with observed seismic amplitude anomalies, was interpreted to contain potential hydrocarbons.
Further analysis of the zone was interpreted to have tight reservoir properties with complex mineralogy.
“The initial results from wireline logging and potential for hydrocarbons is very encouraging as we prepare to drill our primary targets in the Upper Angwa and Pebbly Arkose formations,” he said.
“We will integrate the data we have gathered from the drilling, logs and seismic analysis to determine an optimal future location to test the 200 Horizon in an up dip position and away from the fault plane where conventional reservoir quality is likely to be present,” said Mr Macmillian.
“The Mukuyu-1 well trajectory has been designed primarily to test the Pebbly Arkose and Upper Angwa targets in a crestal location and to intersect the amplitude anomalies and flat spots observed within them.
“The presence of a thick regional shale sitting above the traps, reservoir targets and source rock reduces the key risk of seal presence and effectiveness for the primary targets identified pre-drill. The well remains on track to be completed in the previously guided timeframe,” he added.
The energy firm has indicated that the country could be sitting on more than 5,5 billion barrels of oil. Mukuyu is one of the largest oil and gas exploration prospects to be drilled globally in 2022, targeting a combined prospective resource potential of 20 trillion cubic feet and 845 million barrels of conventional gas condensate, or about 4,3 billion barrels of oil equivalent on a gross mean unrisked basis.
Commercial discovery of oil or gas by Invictus Energy is expected to go a long way in making Zimbabwe, a net importer of petroleum, which also faces acute shortage of power, to be energy self-sufficient.
The Government is targeting to grow the extractive sector to a US$12 billion industry by 2023, a launch pad to Vision 2030, by which the country should attain middle-income status.
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