news Ophir Energy Finds `Good Volume' of Gas Off Tanzania; Plans More Drilling

Ophir Energy Plc, a U.K.-based exploration company, found a “good volume” of natural gas off the coast of Tanzania, said Halfani R. Halfani, an official at the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp.The gas was found in Block 4, southeast of Mafia Island, where Ophir plans to start drilling a second exploratory well in “the next few days,” Halfani, director of exploration production and technical services at the state-run company, said in an interview today in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital.

An additional well is planned by the company in the southern Block 1 early next year, he said. Ophir Energy is a partner with BG Group Plc in the project, Halfani said.“If we continue to make discoveries in other locations, it’s very likely we’ll be able to come up with a development project,” Halfani said. “We’re trying to come up with a portfolio of reserves so it’s big enough for production.”Two natural gas deposits are in commercial production in Tanzania.

Songo Songo holds 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, while the Mnazi Bay field near the border with Mozambique has 2 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, Halfani said.Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-controlled Brazilian oil company, expects to drill two offshore exploratory wells in the East African country in the second half of next year, while Statoil ASA, Norway’s biggest oil and natural-gas producer, may begin drilling one well in the same period, he said.Production SharingAbout 16 oil and gas exploration companies, including Maurel & Prom SA of France and Australia-based Key Petroleum Ltd., have signed 24 production-sharing agreements with the Tanzanian government.

Tanzania is also in talks with Tullow Oil Plc to license a block in the country’s western Lake Tanganyika, Halfani said. The government may open a “limited tender” for the rights to four onshore blocks by December to do work that includes aerial surveying and collecting basic geological data.Piracy has been a challenge for companies searching for oil and gas in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania, said Halfani. Pirates attempted four times to attack supply vessels carrying fuel, chemicals and other materials from Tanzania’s southern Mtwara town to the Ophir Energy prospect, he said.Somali pirates seized 35 vessels off the east coast of Africa so far this year as they expanded their area of operations further into the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Tanzania will open its fourth bidding round for deep offshore drilling in April 2011, making areas in the Indian Ocean available for oil and gas exploration, the TPDC said last month.

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