Mozambique: Drilling in Búzi block delayed by a combination of factors – Noticias

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Mozambique: Drilling in Búzi block delayed by a combination of factors – Noticias

1:52 CAT | 23 Jan 2020

Picture: Noticias

Rainfall in central Mozambique and delays in the mobilisation of the equipment are the factors behind the postponed start of onshore hydrocarbons exploration drilling in the Buzi block, in Sofala province.

The start of drilling, by Indonesian firm Buzi Hydrocarbons Pte Ltd. in partnership with Mozambique’s National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH), had initially been scheduled for the end of last year.

Carlos Zacarias, president of the National Petroleum Institute (INP) of Mozambique, told Notícias that work did not get underway within the timeframe initially planned due to a delay in the mobilisation of well control equipment by one of the subcontractors.

Zacarias admitted that recent rains may make access even more difficult, taking into account the already difficult conditions in the Beira-Búzi area, but did however confirm that most of the necessary drilling equipment was now in Búzi, so work should be able to start within a few days.

The Búzi block is located in the Mozambique sedimentary basin, one of the country’s least explored regions from the point of view hydrocarbon potential.

The only commercial exploitation of natural gas in the Mozambique sedimentary basin is being carried out by South African group Sasol, in Inhambane province’s Pande and Temane deposits. Sasol exports most of its production to South Africa.

According to Carlos Zacarias, only one well is initially planned in Buzi, with the possibility of the consortium sinking a second one.

The Buzi block has been subject of extensive research in the past, culminating in the discovery of natural gas reserves there in the 1960s, but the amounts found were at the time considered insufficient to warrant commercial exploitation.

Source: Noticias