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Share price catalysts ahead as Aminex and Solo Oil prepare for new Ntorya drilling

Published: 22:56 05 Dec 2016 AEDT

onshore drilling operation
Ntorya-2 is located some 1.5 kilometres from the first well

A key share price catalyst for Aminex plc (LON:AEX) and Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) is now almost here, with the new Ntorya drilling programme due to start in Tanzania by mid-December.

The plan is for the Ntorya-2 well to follow up the original Ntorya discovery well, back in 2012 hit the fringes of a gas reservoir after its primary exploration target was unsuccessful.

At the time it was an unexpected bonus for the two small cap drillers who had decided to take a punt and drill deeper after Tullow (the operator up until then) exited the project.

Ntorya-1 yielded 20mln cubic feet of gas per day and unearthed some 70bn cubic feet of estimated resources.

In the years that have followed Aminex and Solo have survived the oil market turbulence, got a separate gas field into production and have secured funding for the now hotly anticipated Ntorya appraisal campaign.

Ntorya-2 is located some 1.5 kilometres up-dip from the original well, in a location that’s expected to deliver thicker reservoir.

Should the appraisal theory prove true, and if the well results are good enough, the companies intend to follow up with one more well.

The site for Ntorya-3 is already being prepared. It is further away, some 5 kms from the first well, and it is pitched where the reservoir is believed to be thickest. Here, the resource potential is put at 1.5 trillion cubic feet.

Success will be very rewarding for both Aminex and Solo Oil, after all Ntorya has been regarded as the flagship asset for both firms.

It is possible to connect these well into local infrastructure and bring them on-stream in a relatively short time frame.

Beyond production, the project has the potential to open up a great number of opportunities for both Ntorya and the broader area, including a possibly lucrative farm-out for at least one of the partners.

Ntorya is just one part of what could be a broader and very large exploration venture.

Independent assessment of the Ruvuma production share contract (PSC) area, which host Ntorya, has in the past outlined some 100 trillion cubic feet of prospective gas resources – confirming just a fraction of that makes it ‘world class’.

It is a very big prize, albeit that’s another story for another day.

Now, Ntorya is the priority and investors will no doubt be excited as drilling gets underway in the coming weeks.

Solo Oil's Neil Ritson on Horse Hill, Ruvuma and plans to refresh the team

Neil Ritson, chairman of Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO), discusses with Proactive's Andrew Scott the first batch of production testing results from Horse Hill,  the decision by their partner at Ntorya, Aminex plc (LON:AEX) to farm-out two-thirds of its 75% interest in the project and the continued...

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