- ARA Petroleum (ARA) is pleased to announce that the Ministry of Energy in Tanzania has granted a 25-year Development Licence over the Ntorya gas discovery area to the Ruvuma joint venture.
- The development licence was granted to the operator of the Ruvuma JV, ARA Petroleum Tanzania Limited (APT), a wholly owned subsidiary of ARA Petroleum.
- APT holds an operated 75% of the JV, with LSE-listed Aminex PLC the remainder.
- Tanzania has been trying to revive oil and gas investment. Read more
“We are delighted to receive this licence from the Ministry of Energy and thank all the Tanzanian agencies involved in achieving this major milestone. We are ready to launch work immediately to bring this onshore development project into production,” said Erhan Saygi, General Manager of ARA Petroleum Tanzania (APT).
APT considers the area to yield a matured unaudited Contingent Resource estimate of 3.45 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of Gas Initially In Place (GIIP), with an mean unrisked GIIP potential of 16.4 tcf and a risked mean potential of 6.9 tcf for the wider Ruvuma JV area.
Related: Tanzania’s gas boom that never was
ARA was formed in 2014 and is part of the wider Zubair Corporation, one of the oldest and most respected business groups from Oman who have broad interests across many sectors throughout the Middle East, Africa and beyond. ARA is now a dynamic member of the Exploration & Production industry in Oman. The company is a full cycle E&P company which explores, appraises, develops and produces oil & gas resources both in Oman and internationally.
APT has prepared a field development plan that includes, but is not limited to, converting an existing well into a producing well, building in-field gas processing facilities and contracting a rig operator to drill a third well to appraise the field further.
Tanzania has significant natural oil and gas resources in the south east of the country. Image credit: Aminex
APT expects to produce 40 MMcfd in the first year of production and to increase that to 140 MMcfd within a few years’ time, according to a Gas Sales Agreement signed with the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) earlier this year. Such volumes will increase Tanzanian natural gas production significantly.
Additionally, APT believes the potential for gas production from the field is far larger having commissioned, acquired and interpretated 338 km2of 3D seismic data over the Ruvuma JV licence area.
Following the interpretation of the seismic data, APT considers the area to yield a matured unaudited Contingent Resource estimate of 3.45 Tcd of Gas Initially In Place (GIIP), with an mean unrisked GIIP potential of 16.4 Tcf and a risked mean potential of 6.9 Tcf for the wider Ruvuma JV area.
Acknowledging this wider potential, the Development Licence divides the original “Mtwara Exploration Licence” area into nine blocks: five blocks containing the Ntorya discovery, and four blocks labelled as “adjoining blocks”.
The Ruvuma JV parties are required to undertake geological, geophysical and geochemical studies in the area and drill at least one additional exploration well within 5 years while spending a minimum of $10 million.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
