Second gas discovery block 4 offshore Tanzania
Ophir Energy plc ("Ophir"), an Africa-focused upstream oil and gas company, is pleased to announce that a significant gas discovery has been made in the Chewa-1 exploration well. This is the second gas discovery in the Mafia Basin, offshore Tanzania and follows on from the successful Pweza-1 well. The Chewa-1 well is located in Block 4 which is operated by one of Ophir's wholly owned subsidiaries on behalf of a joint venture which consists of itself (40%) and BG International ("BG") (60%). The well is located approximately 80km from the coastline in 1,315m of water. The Ophir/BG Joint Venture has interests in Blocks 1, 3 and 4 offshore southern Tanzania. These blocks cover more than 27,000km2 of the Mafia Basin and northern portion of the Ruvuma Basin, in water depths ranging from approximately 100m to greater than 3,000m. Chewa-1 is the second of a three-well sequence which forms part of an Initial Work Programme across Blocks 1, 3 and 4. Upon completion of the Initial Work Programme, which also includes the acquisition of 4,000km2 of 3D seismic data, BG has the option to assume operatorship of all three blocks.