Nick Cooper
The Mlinzi Mbali well is the deepest stratigraphic test offshore Tanzania even though it “disappointingly did not encounter live hydrocarbons”, laments Nick Cooper, CEO of Ophir, the aggressive, London listed explorer. “It will provide crucial information that will be integrated into our interpretation of the potential of Block 7 and the wider deepwater basins of Tanzania”, Cooper says in the press release announcing the finalization of the well.
Ophir has an 80% net interest and is operator of the block in which the well is located.
“Mlinzi Mbali-1 is the first well on Block 7 and targeted a structural crest within a Lower Cretaceous channel complex, with secondary targets in the Upper Cretaceous and the Jurassic”, the company remarks.
It is also the first well that Ophir will be involved in as operator, offshore Tanzania. Since 2010, Ophir has been a Joint Venture in a string of discoveries in which BG is operator offshore Tanzania.
“The Cretaceous targets were intersected and are interpreted to be water bearing. The well was completed ahead of time and budget. The Deepsea Metro I drillship will now be released to BG Group to drill an exploration well in Kenya. It will then return to Tanzania where wells are planned on Block 1 and on Ophir’s operated East Pande Block during the first half of 2014”.
