Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp. (TPDC) and ARA Petroleum Tanzania (APT) have been granted a development license over the Ntorya gas discovery in Tanzania’s Mtwara region by country’s Ministry of Energy, partner Aminex plc (25%) said in a release Sept. 11. The license is for a period of 25 years.
ARA and Aminex in 2023 approved the field development plan for the Ntorya discovery, which contains 1.8 tcf of gas proven by two wells which produced 20 MMscfd each during testing (OGJ Online, July 12, 2023).
Work on the Ntorya site has been progressing over the last few months, with APT acquiring land for upstream processing infrastructure and the Chikumbi-1 appraisal well location, while expanding another nearby site to accommodate construction of a camp and storage yard, Aminex said.
The operator also is working on logistics necessary to conduct subsurface work that will lead to first gas, including conducting a well-test on Ntorya-2 and converting it to a producing well, drilling the Chikumbi-1 appraisal well with a view to converting it to a producing well, and carrying out a well workover at Ntorya-1, before turning it into a producing well.
First gas is anticipated as soon as the 35-km natural gas pipeline from Ntorya, Tanzania, to TPDC’s 210-MMcfd Madimba gas processing plant is completed, which is expected next year, Aminex said (OGJ Online, May 14, 2024).
According to a gas sales agreement signed with the TPDC in January 2024, APT expects to produce 40-60 MMscfd in the first year of production, with an increase to 140 MMscfd within a few years. Such volumes would increase Tanzanian gas production by 20-80%, Aminex said.
