BG and Ophir in new Tanzania gas discovery
BRITISH gas firm BG Group and explorer Ophir Energy said yesterday they had found more gas off the coast of Tanzania, raising hopes that the East African country will become a major new gas province.
The partners said that the discovery at the Mzia well will provide a substantial boost to their total estimate of how much gas they have found in Tanzania, helping prove there is volume enough to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant.
“The success at Mzia-1 is a major step towards a Tanzanian LNG hub development in Block 1,” Ophir’s chief executive Nick Cooper said in a statement. Industry interest in East Africa has intensified in recent years and the previously little-explored area is tipped to become a major natural gas producing region, exporting LNG to fast-growing energy-hungry countries in Asia. US explorer Anadarko Petroleum Corp said on Tuesday it had discovered a major new gas field off the coast of nearby Mozambique.
The Mozambican fields have drawn oil major Shell to the area – it is in the process of trying to buy Britain’s Cove Energy, Anadarko’s partner in the country. BG and Ophir said they discovered the gas in a deeper geological zone than the previous finds that they’ve made in Tanzania, which added to their confidence that they would make additional finds.
Mzia is the partnership’s fifth successful exploration well off the coast of Tanzania.