bg& ophir huge gas discovery offshore tanzania

BG and Ophir make huge gas discovery offshore Tanzania

8:30 am by Philip Whiterow

Shares in Ophir Energy (LON:OPHR) shot higher as the highly anticipated Jodari-1 well offshore Tanzania showed a major gas discovery, said operator BG (LON:BG.).

“Preliminary evaluation of the well results indicates gross recoverable resources are in the range of 2.5 to 4.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas,” the statement said.

It is the fourth well to be drilled by the pair offshore Tanzania. Jodari-1 is 60 per cent owned by BG and 40 per cent by Ophir.

Previous discoveries were at Chaza-1 in Block 1, and at Chewa-1 and Pweza-1 in Block 4 with the total of gas resources discovered estimated at close to 7 tcf.

Jodari-1 is approximately 39 kilometres offshore southern Tanzania and in a water depth of 1150 metres.

It is part of the current three-to-four well exploration programme, which also includes the acquisition of 2 500 square kilometres of 3D seismic data in Block 1.

The next target for drilling is the Mzia-1 location in Block 1, some 23 kilometres to the north of Jodari-1.

Ophir shares have been strong performers and buoyed by expectations from the Jodari-1 well and bid activity in the region.

Broker JP Morgan said last week it believed that the results from Jodari-1 would be the key share price moving disclosure that the market is waiting for.

Ophir shares were 13 per cent higher at 454 pence in early dealings.

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