Tanzania: Statoil, ExxonMobil Make High-Impact Gas Discovery in Piri Prospect

The discovery in the Piri prospect is Statoil and co-venturer ExxonMobil’s sixth discovery and the fifth high-impact discovery in Block 2 offshore Tanzania.

The discovery of an additional two to three trillion cubic feet (tcf*) of natural gas in place in the Piri-1 well brings the total of in-place volumes up to approximately 20 tcf in Block 2.

“Since 2012 we have had a 100% success rate in Tanzania and the area has become a core exploration area in a very short period of time. We quickly went from drilling one well to a multi-well programme, and with Piri-1 we are continuing the success,” says Nick Maden, senior vice president for Statoil’s exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere.

The new gas discovery was made in the same Lower Cretaceous sandstones as the gas discovery in the Zafarani-1 well drilled in 2012.

The Piri-1 discovery is the venture’s sixth discovery in Block 2. It was preceded by the high-impact gas discoveries Zafarani-1, Lavani-1, Tangawizi-1 and Mronge-1, and a discovery in Lavani-2.

Piri-1 was drilled by the drillship Discoverer Americas. The well location is two kilometres southwest of the Lavani-1 well at 2,360-metre water depth. The Discoverer Americas has now moved location and is currently drilling the Binzari prospect in Block 2.

“Additional prospectivity has been mapped and will be tested throughout 2014 and 2015. We expect to drill several additional exploration and appraisal wells and hope that the results from these wells will continue to add gas volumes for a future large-scale gas infrastructure development,” says Maden.

Statoil operates the licence on Block 2 on behalf of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and has a 65% working interest. ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited holds the remaining 35%. Statoil has been in Tanzania since 2007, when it was awarded the operatorship for Block 2.