Tough luck for Ophir oil exploration in Tanzania
Ophir Energy plc has announced that drilling operations have now concluded on the Mlinzi Mbali-1 well in Block 7*, Tanzania. Ophir has an 80% net interest.
The well was located c.210km east of Dar es Salaam and was drilled by the Deepsea Metro I drillship.
Mlinzi Mbali-1 is the first well on Block 7 and targeted a structural crest within a Lower Cretaceous channel complex, with secondary targets in the Upper Cretaceous and the Jurassic.
The Cretaceous targets were intersected and are interpreted to be water bearing. The well was completed ahead of time and budget.
According to company CEO Nick Cooper information achieved from Mlinzi Mbali-1 exploration will help the company in its explrations elsewhere.
“Mlinzi Mbali-1 was the first of a series of high impact, high risk wells that will be drilled by Ophir through 2014. This frontier well disappointingly did not encounter live hydrocarbons, however it is the deepest stratigraphic test offshore Tanzania and will provide crucial information that will be integrated into our interpretation of the potential of Block 7 and the wider deepwater basins of Tanzania”
The Deepsea Metro I drillship will now be released to BG Group to drill an exploration well in Kenya. It will then return to Tanzania where wells are planned on Block 1 and on Ophir’s operated East Pande Block during the first half of 2014.
*Block 7 PSA is held and operated by Dominion Tanzania Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ophir Energy plc.