London-listed junior Aminex has made a gas discovery in the Ntorya-1 exploration well in the Ruvuma basin, onshore Tanzania.

The well encountered strong gas shows in a good quality Cretaceous reservoir sand at a depth of 2660 metres and the open hole was logged over the zone to a depth of 2750 metres.

Aminex said its evaluation of the electric logs confirmed the presence of gas over a gross sand interval of 25 metres, from 2660 to 2685 metres, with a three metre net gas bearing pay zone at the top of the interval with porosities of 20% and a 16.5 metre thick lower sandstone interval with further possible gas pay.

The company added the presenced of reservoired hydrocarbons in the Cretaceous sands in Ntorya-1 opened up the potential for additional prospectivity in the thick Mesozoic sandstones encountered in the Likonde-1 well, about 14 kilometres to the north.

“Following recent high-profile exploration successes in the offshore Ruvuma basin of Tanzania and Mozambique, the Ntorya-1 well has established for the first time the presence of reservoired hydrocarbons onshore,” Aminex chief executive Stuard Detmer said.

“Given current plans to develop major gas infrastructure on the coast just 25 kilometres away, this has the potential for commercial development and opens new possibilities in the underexplored onshore regions of our Ruvuma Block PSA.”

Aminex said it intended to deepen the well a further 250 metres to investigate “a prominent seismic event” at a depth of about 3000 metres.

Tullow Oil had shared 25% of the cost of drilling the well to a depth of 2500 metres but elected to not participate in the deepening of the well earlier this month.

As a result operator Aminex now holds a 75% interest in the deepening of the well, with Solo Oil holding the remaining 25% stake.

Aminex holds a 56.25% stake in the Ruvuma Block with Tullow Oil on 25% and Solo Oil holding the remaining 18.75%.

Source: Upstream Online