Invictus’ gas deposits second biggest in sub-Saharan Africa
INVICTUS Energy, the Australian exploration company that discovered moveable condensate gas deposits in Mashonaland Central Province, northern Zimbabwe, says its Mukuyu gas field has been ranked the second largest of seven hydrocarbon deposits found on the sub-continent in 2023.
The Mukuyu field has been identified as the second-largest discovery in Sub-Saharan Africa in an upstream review published by global energy research firm Wood Mackenzie last month.
Mukuyu’s placing as an estimated 230 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) (1,3 trillion cubic feet) resource follows two gas discoveries from the Upper and Lower Angwa reservoirs declared by Invictus in December last year.
Preliminary studies have indicated that the Mukuyu gas field potentially holds 30 million TCF of gas condensate. Before the Mukuyu-2 discovery, Zimbabwe’s Cahora Bassa was considered the largest undrilled prospect offshore Africa.
Wood Mackenzie’s review noted that regional exploration yielded seven discoveries from a total of 17 wells drilled across the sub-continent in 2023, with Invictus accounting for two of the discoveries.
These include Shell’s Jonker-1 and Lesedi 1X in Namibia, Invictus Energy’s Mukuyu-2 in Zimbabwe, TotalEnergies Ntokon 1AX in Nigeria, Azule Energy’s Lumpembe in Angola, Sasol’s Bonito 1 in Mozambique and BW Energy’s DHBSM1 in Gabon.
Invictus said there remained substantial upside through further drilling to convert prospective resources in the Mukuyu field into contingent resources and subsequently mature them into reserves. Invictus declared two material discoveries after recovering a total of 15 downhole gas and gas-condensate samples from both the Upper and Lower Angwa Formation targets in the Mukuyu-1 and Mukuyu-2 wells during its December drilling campaign.
The dual discoveries confirm the incredible potential of the Mukuyu gas field and define a new petroleum province in the Cabora Bassa basin, where the company holds a dominant acreage position of 360 000 hectares in proximity to a high-demand energy market with established delivery infrastructure.
“Having the Mukuyu discovery independently recognised as one of the largest discoveries in 2023 and acknowledged among several multinationals confirms our confidence in the quality and scale of this new gas field in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Invictus managing director Mr Scott MacMillan said.
Invictus, he said, would build on the Mukuyu discovery and convert prospective resources in undrilled fault blocks in the Mukuyu field into contingent resources, laying the pathway to mature the reserves through further drilling.
“Invictus’ dominant 360 000ha position in the Cabora Bassa basin provides the company with further opportunities to deliver subsequent discoveries from its substantial portfolio of drill-ready prospects and leads following the basin opening discoveries delivered from the first two wells,” Mr MacMillan said.