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Business Reporter
AN Australian company, Invictus Energy Limited, which recently confirmed the potential of oil in Muzarabani, Cabora Bassa Basin, in Mashonaland Central Province, is expecting to spend between $10 to $20 million for each well to be drilled at the Muzarabani Prospect.

The company is, however, still conducting exploration studies that will determine the best candidates for drilling, with Muzarabani Prospect being the most likely.

Responding to enquiries from our sister paper Business Weekly yesterday, Invictus Energy Limited managing director, Scott Macmillan said: “We need to conclude our technical work before drilling so we can select the best prospect to drill which maximises our chance of making an oil or gas discovery for the country.”

Mr Macmillan said his company has already spent around $1 million in its first year and will spend another $1,5 million or so to conclude the rest of its studies work.

“We expect the drilling to cost between $10-$20 million for each well we drill depending on the depth,” he said.

“If we make a discovery, however; the total investment will then be measured in billions including wells, processing facilities, pipelines and associated infrastructure over the life of the project,” added Mr Macmillan.

He said Sasol’s investment in Pande and Temane gas fields is a very good example of the investment needed.

Sasol invested $1,4 billion to grow the first phase of its Mozambique project, which included 13 wells and an LPG production facility.

“They also discovered the Inhasorro oil field recently nearby the gas fields, which they are currently developing. They have invested billions in gas processing facilities, pipelines and infrastructure developing the fields since the early 2000s,” said Mr Macmillan.

The Cabora Bassa Project encompasses the Muzarabani Prospect, a TCF+ conventional gas-condensate target which is the largest, undrilled seismically defined structure onshore Africa.

In a statement released in September 2018, Invictus Energy said: “Preliminary gravity data reprocessing confirms shallow basement trend associated with Muzarabani anticline and identifies further leads Invictus Energy Limited (“Invictus” or “the Company”), is pleased to announce that the ongoing basin modelling study (the “Basin Model”) and geochemical studies confirm the oil potential of the Cabora Bassa Basin.”

The statement quoted Invictus Energy managing director Scott Macmillan saying: “The results of our ongoing technical work are extremely encouraging and are enhancing our understanding of the potential of our acreage in the Cabora Bassa Basin.

It said conclusions from previous source rock characterisation and basin modelling studies undertaken by Mobil more than 25 years ago “have been superseded with new geological understanding derived from updated industry classification of source rock types and basin modelling methods”.

Invictus Energy further noted that the deep lacustrine (lake) source rock type in the Cabora Bassa Basin was not widely regarded 25 years ago as having significant oil generating potential.

The company said it is in the process of acquiring additional outcrop source rock samples over the basin wide area to further enhance the geochemical dataset.