.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/32877/update-aminex-becomes-operator-of-ruvuma-basin-in-deal-brokered-with-tullow-32877.html

UPDATE: Aminex becomes operator of Ruvuma Basin in deal brokered with Tullow

Thu 12:59 pm by Ian Lyall and Sergei Balashov

Later this year with the Ntorya-1 well, south of Likonde, will be drilled to 2,020 metres and is expected to take 25 days to reach its target depth

Adds comments from Shore Capital...

Aminex (LON:AEX) will become the majority owner and operator of the Ruvuma Basin production sharing agreement in Tanzania under a deal brokered with Tullow Oil (LON:TLW).

Tullow has assigned an 18.75 per cent stake to Aminex, which takes its holding to 56.75 per cent, while Solo Oil (LON:SOLO) receives a 6.25 per cent boost from the FTSE 100 explorer, giving it 18.75 per cent of the PSA.

It leaves Tullow with 25 per cent of Ruvuma, which is an on-shore and offshore prospect.

The re-organisation was described as a logical and practical move because Aminex already operates a well in Tanzania, where Tullow doesnt.

Therefore there will be operating efficiencies with Aminex in charge of the drilling programme.

Last year the partners drilled the Likonde-1 well on the permit, which while not a commercial discovery, provided strong evidence of both oil and gas in the area.

Later this year with the Ntorya-1 well, south of Likonde, will be drilled to 2,020 metres and is expected to take 25 days to reach its target depth.

The Caroil-6 rig is being mobilised to Ruvuma from the Aminex-operated Nyuni-2 well, where results are expected imminently.

Chairman Brian Hall said: "We are looking forward to drilling the exciting Ntorya prospect at Ruvuma, in one of the last major under-explored deltaic basins in Africa.

The PSA was originally awarded 100 per cent to Aminex in 2005 and we acquired the original seismic data before passing operatorship to Tullow in 2008 after they had joined the joint venture.

We are very grateful for the good work done by Tullow on this project and much appreciate the opportunity to increase our interest and reassume operatorship.

We are fully anticipating Tullow's continued support and assistance."

Broker Shore Capital welcomed the update, calling the transfer of operatorship to Aminex a very logical outcome which should expedite the work programme and lead to operational efficiencies, also noting the increase of Solos interest in Ruvuma.

We think that this is good news which provides (Solo and Aminex) with additional leverage to drilling success in this exciting basin, said Shore Capital analyst Craig Howie.

No news is good news - very possible today.

Today is possibly bad news dumping day, so I shall even be positive to see no news released today.

If they really have no gas, they should have finished and logged by now, as drilling with no gas is much faster than drilling into a gas filled reservoir.

So fingers crossed for no bad news today, then we can all get exciting about next week.

Bought a few more.....calculated risk....could jump past 10p on a good result....and guess what ?...it comes up as a sell ???...nuts....

rf why has TLW pulled out of this project?

They haven't...reduced to 25% on the ruvuma.....it's the nuyuni gas drill that could be the one to get this going....results due any moment now...

Suggest in the coming 6 to 9 months markets are going to be strong (ignoring the short term rumour dominated volatility).

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-08/insider-buying-highest-since-2008-in-europe-chart-of-the-day.html

Insider Buying Highest Since 2008 in Europe: Chart of the Day

By Adam Haigh and Tim Barwell - Sep 9, 2011 6:00 AM GMT+0700


More executives at European companies are buying their stock than at any time since the worst period of the financial crisis in 2008.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows that insider buying of shares climbed in August to its highest level since October 2008, according to data compiled by Citigroup Inc. That preceded a 84 percent jump in the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index from March 2009 to the gauges peak this year on Feb. 17.

Directors have a good ability in timing the market, Chris Montagu, a London-based quantitative strategist at Citigroup, wrote in a report dated Sept. 6. One can conclude that, at this juncture, directors see current valuations as an attractive entry point.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index slumped 16 percent from the end of July through Sept. 6 when the gauge reached its lowest level since July 2009. Equities tumbled amid concern that global economic growth is slowing as the European sovereign-debt crisis spreads. The indexs valuation slid to 9.1 times the estimated profits of its constituent companies during August, the lowest price-earnings ratio since March 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

More good news.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201109130700120987O

Aminex PLC
Acreage Swap in Tanzania
RNS Number : 0987O
Aminex PLC
13 September 2011

ACREAGE SWAP IN TANZANIA

Aminex announces the following further reorganisation of its Tanzanian exploration portfolio:

Aminex and Key Petroleum Ltd. ('Key') currently participate 50-50 in the West Songo-Songo Production Sharing Agreement ('PSA') in Tanzania, with Key as the operating partner. Progress has been slow to date and the work programme is behind schedule, creating uncertainty about the future of the PSA. As a consequence, Aminex has agreed with Key that it will withdraw from the PSA, transferring its 50% interest to Key which will then hold 100%. In exchange, Key will relinquish its 5% interest in the new 'Nyuni Area PSA' in favour of Aminex. The West Songo-Songo transfer is being submitted to the Tanzanian authorities for formal approval but the practical aspects of the transfer will be implemented immediately.

The 'Nyuni Area PSA' will replace the existing 'Nyuni-East Songo-Songo PSA', operated by Aminex's wholly-owned subsidiary, Ndovu Resources Ltd., which is now time-expired and where work obligations have been fulfilled, with two gas discoveries recorded. The new Nyuni Area PSA has already been initialled by both Aminex and the Tanzanian authorities, as previously announced, and will be formally executed by the Minister of Energy and Minerals at an appropriate time. The Nyuni Area PSA will be materially larger than the earlier one and will comprise 4 additional blocks directly to the north, as well as the area covered by the existing Nyuni-East Songo-Songo PSA. Key will retain a 5% working interest in the Kiliwani North gas development licence, which was carved out from the Nyuni PSA earlier this year. Interest holdings will now be as follows:

Nyuni Area PSA

(1,690 km, including 338km making up the 4 additional blocks)

Ndovu Resources (Aminex) 70%
RAK Gas 25%
Bounty Oil 5%


Kiliwani North Development Licence

(85 km)

Ndovu Resources (Aminex) 65%
RAK Gas 25%
Bounty Oil 5%
Key Petroleum 5%

Aminex considers that the new acreage included in the Nyuni Area PSA will provide greater scope for establishing a new play fairway on the continental shelf which could share similarities to some of the recent deep water drilling successes.

Aminex Chairman Brian Hall commented: "Although West Songo-Songo is potentially promising acreage, we believe that our strategy of increasing our interest and acreage in the Nyuni PSA area together with our recently announced increase in our percentage interest in the Ruvuma Basin will be more effective and valuable than our existing portfolio mix."

West Songo Songo (WSS) is possibly 1 TCF of gas and Aminex wanted to buy out the KEY 50%.

This has now changed and AEX have sold their 50% of WSS to KEY in return for 5% of Nyuni.

Given how WSS was supposed to be 1TCF GIP and Aminex wanted to buy the additional 50%, it would suggest they now value 5% of Nyuni much higher.


Says to me Nyuni is a decent sized find !

To clear up any confusion the deal is :

KEY keep their 5% interest in Nyuni-2.

KEY give up their 5% interest in anything in the new Nyuni PSA (future exploration) and give to AEX

AEX give up their 50% interest in WSS and give to KEY



It was confusing, but this has been clarified by a poster who was in contact with AEX as per post on The Fool. People were wondering why KEY would give up 5% of the current drill, when in fact they have not, they keep it, and give up 5% of any future exploration in the new Nyuni PSA area.

Thanks to "DearLeader" from elsewhere. As per the AEX interims it does look like Sunny Ernst No 2 is going to make a significant contribution to revenues now.......


http://www.stockopedia.co.uk/content/usa-30799/

"The Activa newsletter has just come out. It's not on their site yet so here's the relevant paragraph:"

"The Sunny Ernst No. 2, in the Loma Field in southern Texas on which we reported last time continues to perform strongly. Since the recompletion in the main pay zone in May the well has been producing at daily rates between 5 and 8 MMCF plus between 250 and 360 BOPD. Current daily production is at 6.7 MCFD and 260 BOPD. This represents an 8-fold increase vs. prior production levels from the lower pay zone which already returned 3 to 1 over the original investment."


.

After the good USA news now some mixed news on RNS.

Nyuni-2 needs a sidetrack due to junk in the well. So a delay for a couple of weeks for that result.

But, pipework has been ordered to connect Kiliwani and get it into production.


So an annoying delay at Nyuni-2 and the end of an annoying delay at Kiliwani-1

.

No, but the fact that finally its going ahead is good enough for me, with the good news on USA production and now Kiliwani due to go into production as well soon, things are looking good on the revenue outlook now.

Just need a positive Nyuni-2 result in a couple of weeks, and lets be honest, they were logging and must have seen something of interest in order to decide to go ahead and sidetrack now.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/33223/shore-capital-remains-upbeat-on-aminex-prospects-comfortable-with-nyuni-setback-33223.html

.

Looks like sales from Nyuni-1 (and hopefully Nyuni-2) will commence December 2012.

And of course Mtwara is also right where the Ntorya-1 well is, so even if Ntorya-1 is gas and not oil, its possible commercial with this pipeline !


http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=33463

Battle for $1bn deal
BY FLORIAN KAIJAGE

18th September 2011

Why Minister Ngeleja ditched Songas

Alarmed by the recent cartel by fuel dealers and a monopoly in gas business, the government has finally decided to construct the $1.01 billion gas pipeline from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam, causing panic in the boardrooms of Pan African Energy and Songas companies.

The lucrative deal that involves the construction of processing plants at a cost of $300 million at Mnazi Bay, will be financed by a loan from the Chinese government, The Guardian on Sunday has learnt.

Completion of the project is expected to lower the gas delivery price by up to 200 percent as it would enable more suppliers including Ndovu Resources to compete with Songas, which is currently dominating the market.

The proposed gas pipeline has the capacity to supply gas that is enough to produce up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity including the 300 megawatts plant at Manzi Bay, according to details gathered by The Guardian on Sunday.

The move would reduce the cost of producing thermo electricity from the current $0.34 cents to $0.12 cents per megawatts according to cost analysts from power generating companies.

However as two cabinet ministers, Finance Minister Mustafa Mkullo and Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja prepare to sign the loan agreement in Beijing next week, Songas and Pan African Energy have been struggling with lobbying in Dar es Salaam to block the project.

Currently the key players in the gas business are Songas, a subsidiary company of UKs Globeleq (exploration and infrastructure development) and Pan African Energy, a subsidiary firm of a British Virgin Island based company, Orca Exploration, which operated all Songas-owned gas infrastructure on agreed business terms.

In partnership with the government, it controls business on the gas distribution network to industries, commercial institutions and for domestic use.

The duo have dominated the lucrative gas business in the country, enjoying monopoly for years, since the existing pipeline became operational in July 2004.

The pipeline, built by a Sh440 billion ($265 million) loan obtained by the government from the World Bank, was in substance loaned to Songas under specific terms.

With the government deciding to ditch the duo after it was irked by the dilly-dallying by Songas and Pan African Energy, the two key players are lobbying to regain the lucrative deal but their efforts have hit a snag after the government decided to go ahead with its Chinese financing option.

The proposed gas pipeline would constitute a 24-30-inches pipe compared to the 12-16-inch existing one, with intent to increase the quantity of gas transported, which eventually would contribute to easing the power crisis, costly to the national economy.

According to the details gathered by The Guardian on Sunday, project implementation would be effected under the Chinese assistance in terms of financing and technical aspects after the government agreed in principle with the Chinese authorities to acquire a substantial amount of money on a soft loan basis.

Contacted for clarification this week, minister Ngeleja said, This is a must project for the future of this countrywe have secured financing from the Chinese and the agreement will be signed next week.

Some people have been misleading the public by saying the Chinese own this project, but the truth is that its government ownedThe Chinese are financiers and the project will boost gas supply as well as reducing or ending the power supply problem in the country, the minister told The Guardian on Sunday this week.

Defending the government decision, the Minister added, Neither do we intend to operate nor control gas business...what we are doing as building the modern and capable infrastructure to enable both players including Songas to transport more gas to Dar es Salaam .

So far we are forced to depend on expensive fuel based electricity because the existing infrastructure cant allow the pumping of more gas as required by independent power producers Said the Minister.

The Guardian on Sunday has established that a team of Tanzanian government officials involving key technical financial and legal experts flew to China last Wednesday to finalise the project document, before the deal is sealed next week.
Mr Mkulo flew to Beijing last Monday while Mr Ngeleja was expected to join the joint ministerial delegation mid next week.
This visit follows the one by Chinese teams in the country in two phases towards the end of July and twice last month, the first of which involved engineers for the processing plant.

The second team of experts was made of pipeline engineers and the third comprised of experts on material procurement and market surveys, Energy ministry sources indicated.

The Guardian on Sunday has further been informed that the project which would be implemented by Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) through its subsidiary, the China Petroleum and Technology Development Company (CPTDC), in partnership with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) would cost $1.058 billion (Sh1.6 trillion) to be acquired as a loan and repaid in 10 years at a reasonable rate of less than 5 percent interest liability per annum.

The source unveiled further that the project would be implemented under arrangement known as Engineering design, Procurement and Construction (EPC) where all key components of the project are handled by a single company. The projects operational date is set for December 2012.

Pan African Energy and Songas have been irked by the governments move to construct the billion dollar project, which is bigger than theirs, seeing it as a threat to their lucrative business as it would enable competitors to invest in gas the business.

Previously potential investors in gas business failed to invest because they couldnt use the existing pipeline dominated and controlled by Songas.

Now with the Sh1.6 trillion pipeline to be built from Mnazi Bay, Mtwara to Dar es Salaam, also expected to be connected to the Songosongo fields at Somanga Fungu, the sector is set to attract more investors.

The Guardian on Sunday understands that top officials from the two companies (Songas and Pan African Energy) have been consistently working against the governments project, illustrating how far their business worries have risen.

It is reported that mid last week a top executive from the gas companies met President Jakaya Kikwete at the State House in Dar es Salaam to express their displeasure with the governments new gas pipeline project but the President referred them to the minister.

Minister Ngeleja confirmed to this paper this week about the meeting with officials from Songas and Pan African Energy, where he told them that there was no way the government would halt its project.

It is a fact. I met them and said expressly no one can stop us (government) from implementing the project under the Chinese technical and financial assistance, whose initial cost is $778 million. We queried them (Songas) over their source of finance, they said they could borrow from world financial institutions such as the World Bank, an answer which was not possible for the government to rely on, the minister intoned.

The Guardian on Sunday is aware that whereas Songas and Pan African Energy could transport a maximum of 172 million cubic feet of gas a day by expanding its processing plant at Songosongo, the project under the Chinese technical and financial assistance could process and transmit 420 million cubic feet of gas every day.

According to an engineer at TPDC, 420 million cubic feet could generate more than 2,000 megawatts of power, but since a small portion of the said amount of gas was projected for increased industrial and domestic use.

About 1,700 megawatts of power are projected to be generated through different power projects including private firms and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO).

National power requirements during high demand hours stand at 833 megawatts as per statistics provided by Tanesco in March 2011.

Currently the power produced from gas stands at 328 megawatts, from the 102 million cubic feet transported a day under Songas infrastructure. This remains a major reason for several power generating plants to use costly diesel, Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and Jet A1 oil.

Natural gas is by far cheaper compared to imported fuel, whose prices keep fluctuating.
Reliable sources close to Pan African Energy and Songas told this paper that although the companies were different entities, they operated cooperatively in virtually all aspects on gas business and remain dependent on one another.
Songas owns the gas infrastructure including the processing plant and the pipeline but all infrastructures are operated by Pan African on behalf of Songas.

This implies that any adverse effect on either of the companys operations would definitely extend to the other as they are inter-dependent, thus they view their business as affected by the major Chinese-TPDC pipeline project, the sources noted.
The well placed sources added: Take a case of Pan Africa Energy which under the existing agreement with TPDC enjoys a monopoly of gas business by selling it to production industries, commercial and other government institutions at a rate $8 per Giga Joule (GJ). Thus it is worried if potential competitors push down prices by increasing the supply, noting further that there is a foreseeable possibility of prices to go down to $3 for the same unit.

About 35 major industries in Dar es Salaam including the cement factory, Portland (Twiga Cement), food processing industries belonged to S.S Bakhresa group and Murza Mills are among those which frequently use gas powered machinery.

And the companies efforts which seem to be going nowhere emerged three months after Songas obtained government approval to expand its gas processing plant at Songosongo.

The expansion proposal, which was approved last May was twice rejected by the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) in 2008 and 2009 as the regulator was convinced that the project costs were not realistic and could have negative effects on the power produced and eventually sold to Tanesco.

While the Songas proposal indicated that the project would cost about $68 million Ewura argued the total genuine cost would not exceed $45 million.

Pan African Energys country general manager Andrew Brown said during an interview that he could not comment on the expansion project as the equipment belonged to Songas. He said that in the gas business there was plenty of misrepresentation, but he did not clarify.

Our key objective is to ensure the production of natural gas goes high as much as possible so as to enhance increased power generation. We expect the amount of gas produced and transported to increase up to 200 million cubic feet a day by the end of 2012, the manager projected.

Songas managing director Christopher Ford said: We are not worried at all. We are concentrating on our expansion project, of which we have already floated the tender and now we are arranging the financial aspect under EPC (Engineering design, Procurement and Construction), adding in a timely manner that we have strong government support.
The government project will be additional, resulting in increased gas production and not a threat to our project and business, he emphasised.

Quizzed over alleged Songas request to be commissioned the work to construct the new gas pipeline, Ford said: At no point have we ever requested for that construction work. We entirely focus on our project, but what we have repeatedly told the government is that we are ready to develop gas infrastructure for tapping gas resources wherever they are found.

The new development comes at a time when the Parliamentary select sub-committee for Energy and Minerals last week begun to probe the dealings of Pan African Energy, which among other shortfalls has denied TPDC a chunk of money amounting to $28 million, according to Parliamentary committee chairman January Makamba (Bumbuli-CCM).

The said money, which was supposed to be paid to TPDC resulted from profit/production sharing agreement between TPDC and Pan African Energy, penned in November 2004 in regard to the distribution of gases for manufacturing industries and domestic use and thus was accumulated for five years between 2004 and 2009.

The investors are further accused of deceitful practices by dubiously including all expenses accrued from the project at downstream level, in Dar es Salaam, and deducting the money at profit sharing with TPDC.

The sub-committee, formed of legislators Charles Mwijage (Muleba North-CCM), Diana Kilolo (Special Seats-CCM), Selemani Zedi (Bukene-CCM), David Silinde (Mbozi West-Chadema) Yusuph Nassir (Korogwe Urban-CCM) and Christopher ole Sendeka (Simanjiro-CCM) is tasked with scrutinising documents of Pan African dealings to establish due diligence.

On August 13 minister Ngeleja announced in Parliament that the government had decided to inject a 1.3 trillion shillings package to arrest the power crisis up to December 2012.

However, about 523 billion shillings was budgeted for the same purpose for the period between August and December 2011.

The country has suffered continuous load shedding for nine consecutive months since late last year.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY

.

News that the loan for the pipeline is agreed.

Should start work this year and in operation by Dec 2012, just like they said it would in those reports.

Nyuni gas on line in Dec 2012 all being well.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/09/23/china-draws-tanzania-into-its-african-embrace/#axzz1Yn3jizzh

China draws Tanzania into its embrace
September 23, 2011 12:33 pm by David Keohane

Tanzania is the latest African country to benefit from Chinese largesse Reuters is reporting it has signed a $3bn deal with Chinese mining company Sichuan Hongda (600331:SHH) to mine coal and iron-ore and agreed a $1bn loan deal with the Chinese government to build a desperately-needed gas pipeline...........................

Details of the pipeline, and yes it will be finished in Dec 2012 (meaning Nyuni gas on line from Dec 2012)

http://www.wentworthresources.com/pdf/Wentworth-Resources-Corporate-Presentation-September-2011-Final.pdf

Page 11 of the above presentation (also gives pipe sizes).

Construction of a 24 pipeline from Mtwara to Somanga and a 30 line from Somanga to Dar es Salaam is being fast tracked (target completion Q4 2012)


.

Disappointing news.

Nyuni-2 well suspended for now due to ongoing drilling problems.

Rig moves on now to drill Ntorya-1 soon. AEX can return to Nyuni-2 at a later date once they decide the best way forward to complete drilling.

The positive is that they have indeed hit gas.

.......Although geologically complex, the Nyuni prospect remains a prime exploration target and preliminary indications of gases from Neocomian and shallower Cretaceous sands have been encountered, suggesting the same active petroleum system, which was encountered in Nyuni-1. The Nyuni-2 well bore remains available for re-entry at a later date.

Once work is complete at Nyuni Island, the rig will be mobilised to the onshore Ruvuma Basin in southern Tanzania where Aminex expects to spud the Ntorya-1 well towards the end of this year......