Solo Oil chief Ritson says success could come in many forms for Ntorya well
8:28 am by Jamie Ashcroft
http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/36248/solo-oil-chief-ritson-says-success-could-come-in-many-forms-for-ntorya-well--36248.html
While the Tanzanian assets provide a great deal of excitement, in Canada the Ausable Reef field is another potentially lucrative asset.
Success could come in many forms for the upcoming Ntorya exploration well in Tanzania, according to Solo Oil (LON:SOLO) executive director Neil Ritson.
Solo has an 18.75 per cent stake in the frontier exploration well. The operator, Aminex, is expected to spud Ntorya-1 at some point in December.
It is being drilled in an onshore location in the Rovuma basin, which has already provided other explorers with a great deal of success offshore.
Ritson explained that while the well could have a big impact for Solo, it is by no means an all or nothing proposition.
We are of course looking for commercial hydrocarbons, but whether Ntorya-1 locates those or not it will make a significant impact on our geological understanding as we continue to explore the onshore portion of Rovuma Basin, Ritson said.
A discovery at Ntorya-1 would lead to an immediate re-rating since the removal of risk on a 100 million barrel discovery would have major value implications.
But this is an exploration well in a new frontier basin so success may take many forms.
The well follows the Likonde well, which encountered non-commercial volumes of hydrocarbons in April last year.
Solo believes that Ntorya-1 has a one-in-four chance of success. If successful, a discovery is likely to be in the order of 100 million barrels of oil, or 600 million cubic feet of gas.
He added: Offshore discoveries so far have been in the multiple tcf range, but drilling and development costs offshore are far higher than they would be at Ntorya, so our economics are very robust.
Ritson explained an oil discovery could be quickly developed.
With the well location just 35 kilometres to the coast, early production could potentially be trucked for export. Laying a pipeline later could be relatively simple and cheap, Ritson added.
Meanwhile, large gas infrastructure projects are already being planned nearby by Anadarko and BG as they commercialise their massive gas offshore discoveries. This has obvious benefits for a possible development of Ntorya if a gas discovery was made.
Ritson also says Solo is currently looking at several opportunities to expand its interests in East Africa. And the firm will continue to prefer under-explored onshore basins, he added.
East Africa has a great deal of remaining potential and the further development of infrastructure will certainly see the process of exploration and development spread further in proven areas and also into other, so far underexplored, areas. This is a region with considerable further growth potential for the oil industry and Solo expects to play a part in that.