Ophir Energy: Drilling Begins at Mlinzi Mbali Well Offshore Tanzania

Ophir Energy plc announces that drilling operations have now started 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, said: “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.”

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Press Release, November 27, 2013