Scimitar slates two Mozambique wildcats

Mozambique acreage [26521 bytes] Scimitar Hydrocarbons Corp., Calgary, will begin a $5 million exploratory drilling program on Mozambique's 2.3 million-acre onshore Buzi-Divinhe block. Plans for 1997 consist of two wells, 1 Bandua and 1 Garabega, about 40 km southwest of the port of Beira in the northern portion of the Buzi-Divinhe block. The block is near the shut-in Buzi gas/condensate discovery, which flowed 8 MMcfd of gas when drilled and tested in the 1960s.

June 16, 1997

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Mozambique acreage [26521 bytes]

Scimitar Hydrocarbons Corp., Calgary, will begin a $5 million exploratory drilling program on Mozambique's 2.3 million-acre onshore Buzi-Divinhe block.

Plans for 1997 consist of two wells, 1 Bandua and 1 Garabega, about 40 km southwest of the port of Beira in the northern portion of the Buzi-Divinhe block. The block is near the shut-in Buzi gas/condensate discovery, which flowed 8 MMcfd of gas when drilled and tested in the 1960s.

When the drilling program is completed, Scimitar's interest in the block will rise to 75% from 50%. Leopardus Resources Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., holds the remaining interest.

Drilling plans

Scimitar has started to let contracts for drilling and related services, with construction of access routes and drillsites slated to begin next month. Drilling of 1 Bandua is set for August and 1 Garabega for September.

The 1 Bandua prospect is thought to be "a significantly larger analog of the Buzi field," Scimitar said.

The well is planned as the first of several targeting a postulated cluster of fields that could be put into production while exploration continues in other portions of the block.

The 1 Garabega prospect has been mapped as potentially larger than 1 Bandua but is considered higher risk, because it is further from existing well control.

Each location is prospective for gas and condensates in high-permeability Grudja sand zones to about 2,000 m depth, according to Scimitar.

The locations were selected on the basis of a 1996 seismic program on the block and modern data on nearby gas fields in similar geological settings (OGJ, Aug. 19, 1996, p. 39).

Scimitar plans to use the results of the 1997 drilling program to develop follow-up locations for drilling next year.

Scimitar is looking ahead to developing the adjoining Inhaminga block, in which it holds a 100% working interest (OGJ, Oct. 28, 1996, p. 89). This block is adjacent to Buzi-Divinhe's northern border and close to Beira.

Scimitar has applied to the Mozambique government for a production-sharing agreement based on a memorandum of understanding signed in 1996.