Invictus Energy Ltd. has awarded contracts for well services for its Mukuyu-2 drilling site in Zimbabwe, keeping it on track for a cleanup in the third quarter.
“SLB (formerly known as Schlumberger) has been awarded the open wire logging contract, Geolog International has been awarded the mud cutting contract, while Baker Hughes, in combination with NOV, has been awarded the directional drilling and logging while drilling (LWD),” the Australian company said in a press release on Monday.
“The rest of the services, including cementing, drilling fluids and mud engineering, tubular operation, fishing and abandonment, liner hangers, reservoir technical services and project management have been retained by Baker Hughes.”
Invictus previously announced commercially viable oil, gas and helium finds at Mukuyu-1.
“The objective of the upcoming campaign is to build on the success of the Mukuyu-1/ST-1 well and confirm a commercial discovery, putting the company on the path to development,” CEO Scott Macmillan said in the announcement of Monday.
The Mukuyu drill sites are in the Cabora Bassa Basin, where Invictus has an 80 percent interest in the development of “one of the last major unproven frontier rift basins in Africa,” as it says describes on the Invictus website. The Zimbabwe Sovereign Wealth Fund in August 2022 expanded the company’s license area to 360,000 hectares (889,579 acres).
Mukyu is “the largest undrilled prospect in offshore Africa with an independent estimate of 20 Tcf [trillion cubic feet] + 845 million barrels (risk-free average gross basis) of conventional gas-condensate,” Invictus says on its website.
The discovery could pave the way for the first gas production in the South African country.
“Mukuyu-1/ST1 has already confirmed the presence of light oil, gas and helium, risk drilling in the Cabora Bassa Frontier Basin and Mukuyu-2 is the next step to unlock this potentially significant resource,” Macmillan added.
The findings come 30 years after ExxonMobil Corp., then Mobil Oil Corp., abandoned exploration in Zimbabwe. Mobil data from the 1990s search helped Invictus advance its exploration, according to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in a November 1, 2018 statement affirming support for Invictus’ search.
Invictus itself previously said it would demobilize Mukuyu-1 and ST1, in the same basin, due to “operational challenges”.
Macmillian said in a statement to the media on January 3: “While we are frustrated with the many operational challenges encountered and not being able to obtain a fluid sample that would have allowed for the formal declaration of a discovery, we still achieved a very significant result of the first well in the basin that has substantially reduced the risk of our dominant position on the surface and has established a new oil province”.
“We have gathered a high-quality dataset across Mukuyu-1 and a diversion well which will now be integrated with existing seismic data to calibrate and refine our interpretation and planning assessment of Mukuyu, as well as prospects additions to the basin”.
Invictus said in April it had received commitments for its $10 million private placement to fund the Mukuyu drilling campaign.
The company is “on track to drill the Mukuyu-2 appraisal well in the third quarter of 2023, targeting several hydrocarbon intervals (gas condensate and potentially light oil) found in the Mukuyu-1/ST1 well in Upper Angwa, Pebbly. Arkose and Post Dande,” Macmillian said on April 6 at Invictus’ announcement of the direct sale of shares to private investors.
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