published Sat, February 18, 2012
Statoil trumpets Zafarani gas hit
Statoil has struck gas shows with a wildcat being drilled at its Zafarani prospect off Tanzania, further raising the prospectivity of the East Africa play.
According to UpstreamOnline, the Zafarani-1 probe, which is
being drilled by the drillship Ocean Rig Poseidon in 2585 metres of
water, "encountered indications of natural gas in a good quality
reservoir", the Norwegian state oil company said in a statement on
Friday.
It is the first exploration well to be drilled in Block 2,
covering 5500 square kilometres, which is operated by Statoil with
a 65% working interest with ExxonMobil holding the remaining
35%.
Drilling will continue at the well, spudded in early January,
towards a total depth of 5150 metres and is expected to be
completed within three months.
Statoil said it was still too early to give any indication on
the size of potential resources and commerciality pending further
analysis of well data.
East Africa is fast emerging as a prospective gas province, with
a new giant discovery by Italian major Eni off Mozambique announced
earlier this week following a find last month by US explorer
Anadarko Petroleum.
"East Africa will soon become a major gas hub if you look at all
the big discoveries made in Mozambique, and the demand side also
looks great considering how close India with its rapidly growing
demand is," Magnus Smistad, an analyst at Fondsfinans, told
Reuters.
"It's a region where Statoil needs to be and its blocks in
Mozambique are also very exciting," he added.
Statoil is increasingly targeting frontier areas for exploration
in the hunt for so-called "high-impact" discoveries with gross
resource potential of more than 250 million barrels of oil
equivalent.
Date: 18/02/2012