Royal Dutch Shell and its joint venture (JV) partners, Pavilion Energy and Ophir Energy, have started $80m Noble Globetrotter II drilling campaign offshore Tanzania, World Oil reported. It consists of one well in Block 1 and another in Block 4, will take place in the Mafia Deep basin.
Blocks 1 and 4 have a net contingent resource of 3Tcf , about 501mb of oil equivalent, and a total gross contingent resource enough to support a three train liquified natural gas (LNG) development. These wells will fulfil remaining requirements for the exploration licenses requested by Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals, informed Ecofin Agency.
Development of the gas in blocks 1 and 4 is part of the planned Tanzania LNG project, also involving ExxonMobil and Statoil who partner in adjacent deepwater block 2. Shell gained operatorship of the two blocks in February 2016, after its merger with BG Group and has been working with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and the government to deliver the wells safely. The development is an important part of Tanzania’s national energy policy under the Vision 2025.
