BG has Cretaceous gas find off southern Tanzania

May 16, 2012
BG Group is preparing to spud its sixth wildcat offshore southern Tanzania after reporting a fifth gas discovery at the Mzia-1 exploratory well on Block 1.

BG Group is preparing to spud its sixth wildcat offshore southern Tanzania after reporting a fifth gas discovery at the Mzia-1 exploratory well on Block 1.

Mzia-1 is the group’s first discovery in the deeper Cretaceous section and opens an extensive new play fairway in the group’s offshore acreage in Blocks 1, 3, and 4 to complement the proven Tertiary fairway.

BG Group did not provide a resource estimate for Mzia-1 but said its four previous discoveries found a combined recoverable resource of nearly 7 tcf of gas.

Logs indicate that Mzia-1 encountered 55 m of natural gas pay in good quality sands. BG Group ran extensive logs and acquired pressure data and gas samples.

The company said the well has derisked a number of adjacent Cretaceous prospects that it said could form part of a future Mzia hub. The prospects are expected to be tested in a future appraisal program to be defined after the company integrates data from Mzia-1 and 3D seismic.

Mzia-1 is in 1,639 m of water 45 km off southern Tanzania and 23 km from the Jodari-1 discovery. It is part of the 2012 three-to-four well exploration program.

After finishing operations at Mzia, the Deepsea Metro-1 will relocate to Block 3 to drill the Papa-1 exploratory prospect.

BG Group is operator with 60% interest in the three blocks, and Ophir Energy PLC has 40%.