Invictus Energy spuds maiden Cabora Bassa oil and gas exploration well in Zimbabwe
Invictus Energy announced that drilling of its 80% owned and operated Cabora Bassa project in Zimbabwe at the Mukuyu-1 exploration well in SG 4571 has commenced, from the installed conductor at 67m to a planned depth of ~650m in the 17½ inch intermediate hole section.
The Mukuyu-1 well is designed to target several stacked Triassic and younger sandstones within a 200km2 four-way dip closure on the basement high trend. Mukuyu is one of the largest oil and gas exploration prospects to be drilled globally in 2022, targeting a combined prospective resource potential of 20 trillion cubic feet and 845 million barrels of conventional gas condensate, or about 4.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent on a gross mean unrisked basis.
Mukuyu-1 will be drilled to a projected depth of 3,500 metres. Drilling and evaluation of the well is prognosed to take approximately 50 to 60 days to complete. Mukuyu-1 will be followed by the Baobab-1 well, which will test an independent play along the basin margin in the EPO 1849 block and take approximately 30 to 40 days to complete. Baobab-1 well will target stacked Cretaceous and younger sandstones, within four-way and three-way dip closures, against the southern basin bounding rift fault.
Scott Macmillan, Managing Director, Invictus: ''This is an exciting and long-anticipated moment for Invictus and our shareholders. Invictus, together with our partners, have methodically de-risked and matured the Mukuyu prospect and our Cabora Bassa acreage over the last several years and the commencement of our drilling campaign is a significant milestone. Mukuyu-1 is a world-class, basin opening well which, if successful, could be transformative for the Company and Zimbabwe.''
