mlinzi commences = kenya l10a mid-january?

Mlinzi drilling has commenced.
"Operations are expected to take approximately 50 days"

So that would mean the Deep-Sea Metro-1 drillship could start heading to the PCL/BG Kenya block L10a to drill the Sunbird prospect around mid-January, which is approximately 7 weeks from now.
Hoping we get confirmation from BG or PCL.


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Tanzania: Mlinzi drilling operations commence

27 November, 2013

Ophir Energy plc (“Ophir” or “the Company”) announces that drilling operations have now commenced on the Mlinzi Mbali-1 well in Block 7*, Tanzania. Ophir has an 80% net interest. The well is located c.210km east of Dar es Salaam and is being drilled by the Deepsea Metro I drillship.

Mlinzi Mbali-1 is the first well on Block 7 and is targeting a structural crest within a Lower Cretaceous channel complex, with secondary targets in the Upper Cretaceous and the Jurassic. Pre-drill estimates show that the two primary channel reservoirs in the Lower Cretaceous have the potential to contain Pmean prospective resources of c.10 TCF. Success would significantly derisk the total resource potential within the overall Mlinzi Channel complex, which is estimated at >20 TCF, as well as in other structures within the Block.

The well is located in a water depth of approximately 2,600m and has a planned Total Depth of 5,650m True Vertical Depth Sub Sea. Operations are expected to take approximately 50 days.

Nick Cooper, CEO, commented:

“Mlinzi Mbali-1 is a playfinder well designed as the first test of the Cretaceous and Jurassic plays in the Northern Tanzanian Coastal Basin, and is the first of several high-impact wells that Ophir will be drilling over the next 12 months. The Mlinzi Mbali prospect is one of the largest prospects (on pre drill estimates) to be drilled to date offshore East Africa. It is a high-risk frontier well, but in the success case this could unlock a significant new gas resource to support a second LNG project for Tanzania, following on from the deepwater discoveries already made in Blocks 1-4 to the south.”

*Block 7 PSA is held and operated by Dominion Tanzania Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ophir Energy plc

http://alturl.com/bt9m8