South African oil company Sasol has discovered new natural gas reserves off Mozambique’s Inhassoro coast in the south of the country, the National Petroleum Institute (INP) announced.
“Sasol Mozambique has made a discovery of natural gas in the Bonito-1 exploration well, carried out in area PT5-C of the Mozambique Basin, located in the southern part of Inhassoro district, Inhambane province”, the National Petroleum Institute said in a statement.
The oil company will continue with “work to evaluate the deposit to determine the size of the discovery, as well as commercial viability,” after drilling an exploration well between March 25 and April 5, reaching a depth of 1,934 meters.
The discovery comes after fruitless drilling. “The Bonito-1 well is the second to be drilled in the PT5-C area, after the Dourado-1 well, whose results were negative”, INP explained.
The contract for exploration and production for the PT5-C area was concluded on October 17, 2018 after the fifth area concession tender. Sasol Mozambique holds a 70% participating interest, with Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) holding the remaining 30%.