The operator with 50 percent stakes in the Kilosa-Kilombero and
Pangani licenses is analysing technical data before starting drilling
for oil by February 2016 at the latest, Chief Executive Officer David
Mestres Ridge said by e-mail.
“The results in Kilombero are particularly interesting, with a
string of structures extending northeast and southwest of our Kito
structure,” Ridge said this week.
The drop in crude to below $50 a barrel has forced many drillers to
reconsider the high costs of exploration in Africa after a dash for
resources that saw billions of dollars in investment to tap promising
fields from Ghana to Tanzania. Swala is moving ahead with plans after
raising 6.65bn/- ($3.6m) in an oversubscribed initial public offering
last year.
“We have a commitment to drill two wells and that remains our
plan,” Ridge said. “You have to bear in mind that oil prices are
cyclical, and have been lower recently -- in the $30s in 2008 and below
$10 per barrel in 1999.”
Swala, a unit of Mt Pleasant, Western Australia-based Swala Energy
Ltd and listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange, is looking at
options including issuing new shares to finance drilling, Ridge said.
Tanzania, which produces small amounts of natural gas for domestic
use, has the potential to become a gas exporter, according to the US
Energy Information Administration. The country doesn’t produce oil, and
there haven’t been any commercial discoveries recently.
SOURCE:
THE GUARDIAN
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