Invictus Energy to drill Cabora Bassa basin in Zimbabwe
Invictus Energy Ltd. will drill the Baobab-1 well in Cabora Bassa basin, Northern Zimbabwe.
Baobab-1 will be drilled as a vertical well to test multiple stacked Cretaceous and younger targets within four-way and three-way dip closures against the southern basin bounding rift fault.
Baobab displays similar structural characteristics to the basin-opening Ngamia discovery drilled in Lokichar basin in Kenya. Ngamia-1 successfully tested a stacked three-way dip closure which found pay at multiple horizons and resulted in subsequent discoveries in the “String of Pearls” along the basin margin.
Wellpad construction is underway and scheduled for rig move and drilling to start immediately following completion of the Mukuyu-1 well, which spudded Sept. 23, and is expected to take 50-60 days to drill and evaluate (OGJ Online, May 26, 2022).
Invictus expects a combined 1.17 billion bbl of conventional oil on a gross mean unrisked basis in the basin margin area of recently assigned Exclusive Prospecting Order 1849. The prospective resource estimate includes Baobab, Acacia, Marula, Mukamba, and Mimosa prospects but excludes additional leads along the basin margin and central fairway area.
The Cabora Bassa project, otherwise known as Special Grant 4571, comprises 250,000 acres of Cabora Bassa basin (OGJ Online, April 30, 2018). In August 2022 Invictus entered into an agreement with the sovereign wealth fund of Zimbabwe to increase the license area to a total of 360,000 hectares.
Invictus Energy is operator at Cabora Bassa with 80% interest.