Orca Exploration group Inc:-Tanzania exploration & production

Exploration: Orca has mapped and evaluated the Songo Songo West (SSW) prospect adjacent to the Songo Songo Field and is planning to drill and test the prospect in Q3 2011. The prospect is located in water depths of approximately 18 – 35 meters and will require a jack-up drilling rig. Since cost effective rig availability is a key factor, Orca is actively engaged with other operators in East Africa who have a requirement for a jack-up rig along a similar timeframe.

The prospect lies approximately 2.5 kilometres west of the main field and is mapped on seismic as having closure on an elongate north-south oriented tilted fault block trap. As with the Songo Songo main field, two reservoirs are envisaged to be present within the SSW prospect – the Neocomian and the Cenomanian, although the primary exploration potential lies within the Neocomian interval. SSW lies entirely within the Company’s Discovery Blocks.

McDaniel & Associates conducted an independent assessment of natural gas resources in the SSW prospect in September 2008. The prospect is interpreted by McDaniel to be low risk with a 52% chance of success in the Neocomian and 35% in the Cenomanian. McDaniel assessed the P50, unrisked recoverable resources in SSW at 450 Bcf and the mean, unrisked recoverable resources at 551 Bcf. Management’s unrisked mean GIIP for the Songo Songo West prospect of 810 Bcf compares with the McDaniel combined Neocomian and Cenomanian unrisked mean GIIP of 740 Bcf. Songo Songo West represents a major potential source of additional new reserves in the Songo Songo area. Orca Exploration is planning to drill an initial exploration well towards the south of the SSW structure. If it is successful and can flow at commercial rates, it is likely to be tied back to the existing processing plant and flowed for a period of time to prove up the long term deliverability of the gas. Once deliverability is confirmed, Orca would likely drill a second well into the northern extent of the mapped structure to get a better understanding of the aerial extent of the reservoir and the recoverable reserves.

Production: Orca is the operator of the Songo Songo gas wells and gas processing plant on behalf of Songas, the owner of the infrastructure. The infrastructure includes two gas processing trains each rated at 35 MMscfd (70 MMscfd total); a high pressure 25-kilometre 12” offshore pipeline and a 207-kilometre 16” onshore pipeline. Songas operates the high pressure pipeline system.

With demand for gas having increased since production began in 2004, the current infrastructure limits result in a serious bottleneck. To address this issue, Songas has approved the re-rating of the current gas processing plant on Songo Songo Island to 90 MMscfd following certification of the increased rate by Lloyds Register. This additional processing capability has allowed Orca to enter into new Additional Gas sales contracts to meet growing customer demand, particularly from the Tanzania power sector.

Plans are awaiting approval to expand the infrastructure by installing two new gas processing trains that will bring total throughput capacity to 200 MMscfd. To transport this volume of gas additional pipeline compression will needed. With additional compression the capacity of the high pressure marine pipeline can the be increased from 105 MMscfd to 144 MMscfd. Once the onshore pipeline is twinned, the system can operate at up to 200 MMscfd.