COALBED METHANE WELLS PRODUCING IN ZIMBABWE

March 20, 1995
Shangani Energy Exploration (Pte. Ltd.), Harare, Zimbabwe, completed what it believes to be Africa's first coalbed methane production well. Test production began in late 1994 from the Tromp-Gas Vlei 1, and two more wells were under way. The site is in Zimbabwe near the Shangani River about halfway between the towns of Bulawayo and Victoria Falls. The wells are being dewatered.

Shangani Energy Exploration (Pte. Ltd.), Harare, Zimbabwe, completed what it believes to be Africa's first coalbed methane production well.

Test production began in late 1994 from the Tromp-Gas Vlei 1, and two more wells were under way. The site is in Zimbabwe near the Shangani River about halfway between the towns of Bulawayo and Victoria Falls. The wells are being dewatered.

The site has more than 100 m of coaly interval 300-500 m deep. Drilling of the wells, designed and supervised by Maralex Resources Inc., Golden, Colo., a U.S. San Juan basin operator, followed several years of core evaluation of gas in place. A possible use for the gas is cogeneration with power sales via nearby high lines.

Shangani Energy is jointly owned by Zimbabwe Mining & Smelting Co., formerly Union Carbide Zimbabwe, a major ferrochrome producer, and Discovery Investments, a Zimbabwean firm with other coalbed methane leases.

The project is separate from coalbed methane work conducted in Zimbabwe by Afpenn Exploration U.K. (see map, OGJ, Nov. 7, 1994, P. 95).

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