STATOIL MAKES ANOTHER HIGH IMPACT NATURAL GAS DISCOVERY OFFSHORE TANZANIA

Statoil and co-venture ExxonMobil have made the sixth discovery and the fifth high impact natural gas discovery in Block 2 offshore Tanzania.

The discovery of an additional 2 trillion to 3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas in place in the Piri-1 well brings the total of in-place volumes up to approximately 20 tcf in Block 2.

“Since 2012 we have had a 100 percent success rate in Tanzania and the area has become a core exploration area in a very short period of time. We quickly went from drilling one well to a multi-well program and with Piri-1 we are continuing the success,” said Nick Maden, Senior Vice President for Statoil's exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere.

The new gas discovery was made in the same Lower Cretaceous sandstones as the gas discovery in the Zafarani-1 well drilled in 2012.

The Piri-1 discovery is the venture's sixth discovery in Block 2. It was preceded by the four successful high-impact gas discoveries, Zafarani-1, Lavani-1, Tangawizi-1 and Mronge-1, and a sixth discovery in the Lavani-2 well beneath the Lavani-1 discovery.

Piri-1 was drilled by the drillship Discoverer Americas. The well location is 2 kilometers southwest of the Lavani-1 well at 2,360-metre water1 depth. The Discoverer Americas has now moved location and is currently drilling the Binzari prospect in Block 2.

“Additional prospectivity has been mapped and will be tested throughout 2014 and 2015. We expect to drill several additional exploration and appraisal wells and hope that the results from these wells will continue to add gas volumes for a future large-scale gas infrastructure development,” said Maden.

Statoil operates the license on Block 2 on behalf of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and has a 65 percent working interest. ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited holds the remaining 35 percent. Statoil has been in Tanzania since 2007, when it was awarded the operatorship for Block 2.