Scirocco Energy upbeat on progress on Ruvuma

Europe-focussed energy investment company Scirocco updated the market on operational activities in the Ruvuma PSA on Thursday, reporting that the operator, ARA Petroleum Tanzania (APT), had now completed the tendering work for the acquisition of 454 square kilometres of 3D seismic.

The AIM-traded firm said a contract award would follow approval from Tanzanian authorities for the issue of the seismic acquisition contract.

It said APT expected acquisition to start later in the third quarter of 2021, adding that the Chikumbi-1 exploration and appraisal well was now expected to spud early in the third quarter of 2022.

Assuming a successful outcome from the drilling of the Chikumbi-1 well, first gas from the project was anticipated by the end of 2024.

The work programme scheduling was in line with the company's expected funding commitments towards it, the board confirmed.

APT had also re-interpreted the existing 2D seismic dataset, and considered the Ntorya gas reservoir to be the product of a “stacked, high-energy, channelised” sand system, Scirocco added.

It said the operator's revised mapping and internal management estimates suggested a mean risked gas-in-place for the Ntorya accumulation of 3,024 billion cubic feet in multiple lobes, and a mean risked recoverable gas resource of 1,990 billion cubic feet, which would be appraised by the planned seismic and drilling programme.

The partners in the Ruvuma PSA are the operator APT with 50%, Aminex with 25%, and Scirocco with the remaining 25%.

“We are pleased to provide the operational update on the Ntorya gas discovery and forward work programme,” said chief executive officer Tom Reynolds.

“APT has made significant progress since assuming the role of operator and we are now looking forward to a busy period of operational activity as the joint venture executes the 3D seismic and well planning programme.

“Additionally, the work undertaken by the APT technical team to re-map the discovery and identify prospective additional resources demonstrates the potential size and scale of the Ntorya discovery.”

At 1426 BST, shares in Scirocco Energy were up 2.56% at 1p.