BG and Ophir shares up on large gas find
BRITISH gas producer BG Group and its partner Ophir Energy have discovered a bigger than expected gas deposit off the coast of Tanzania, the pair said yesterday.
BG’s shares jumped 1.8 per cent after it said it had come closer to the minimum volumes required for a liquid natural gas development.
The discovery made at the Jodari-1 well had recoverable mean resource estimated at 3.4 trillion cubic feet (TCF).
That is above the estimate of 2.2 TCF and prompted BG and Ophir to issue upbeat statements to the market.
Ophir, backed by steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal (pictured), said the cumulative resources found in its blocks were now about 7 TCF. London-listed Ophir holds 40 per cent of the three blocks.
Its shares surged 18.8 per cent to 477.6p, and chief executive Nick Cooper hailing the results.
“This is a very strong start to our five-well 2012 Tanzania drilling campaign and the Metro-1 drillship will now move to drill Mzia-1, which is targeting mean recoverable resources of 4.6 TCF,” Ophir said.
Investec analyst Stuart Joyner said the find announced yesterday “is the strongest possible start to the five-well 2012 Tanzania drilling campaign”.