Australian-listed Invictus Energy expects to commence drilling its first exploration well for oil and gas in the northern part of Zimbabwe in the coming weeks, an official with the company’s Zimbabwean subsidiary said on August 19.
The first well, Mukuyu-1, situated in the Muzarabani-Mbire area, will be 3.5 km deep at a cost of $16 million, said Paul Chimbodza, managing director of the Australian company’s local subsidiary Geo Associates.
Chimbodza added that drilling will proceed although there’s some equipment still to be delivered.
“We hope to spud by the end of the month or the first week of September,” Chimbodza told reporters at the Mukuyu-1 site in Mbire District, 185 km north of Zimbabwe’s capital of Harare.
The latest search for gas and oil comes roughly three decades after Exxon Mobil Corp. halted its quest to secure crude in the region.
Exxon “was chasing for oil and not gas,” Chimbodza said, adding that at the time there was no gas market structure in the region. The US oil major shared some of its exploration with Invictus, he added.
Exploration well could be ‘game changer’
The discovery of oil and gas in the southern African country could be a boost for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. Zimbabwe stands to receive as much as 60% of the project’s output under a production agreement still being finalized, said Joe Mtizwa, vice chairman of Invictus Energy.
“If we’re successful, this project will be transformational, a game-changer for Zimbabwe,” Mtizwa said.