Australian Securities Exchange (ASX)-listed oil and gas firm Invictus Energy has started assembling oil and gas drilling equipment at its Mukuyu-1 prospect in Muzarabani, Mashonaland Central.
The company intends to commence exploration drilling later this month.
Invictus managing director Mr Scott Macmillan told The Sunday Mail Business the company had started assembling key drilling equipment at the targeted site in preparation for test well drilling to investigate the potential presence of petroleum deposits.
Exalo rig 202, which was recently mobilised from Tanzania’s Songo Songo area, is in the process of being assembled.
Drilling will only resume after some maintenance work. Macmillan said:
The mobilisation of the rig is nearly complete and the last loads of the (Exalo) 202 rig will be at Mukuyu-1 well site early next week (this week).
The majority of casing, cement and mud products have also arrived at the site and the well services gear from Baker Hughes such as wireline (electric logging), cementing and mud-logging units and measuring while drilling packages will begin to arrive over the next fortnight either at the well site or at our supply base in Harare to undergo servicing and preparation before being deployed to well site.
He said wireline-logging operations use sophisticated tools which are lowered into the well on an electric cable to take different measurements of samples from the borehole and reservoirs.
The cable is armoured and contains electric conductors. The tools will also measure the density of the rock.
Commercial discovery of oil and gas would result in energy self-sufficiency, massive job creation, export growth, infrastructure development and new downstream industries.
The project has already been granted national project status, while the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) licence, which was due to expire this year, has been extended by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) until next year.
It is estimated that there could be 20 trillion cubic feet of gas and 845 million barrels of vaporized oil–gas ratio at Mukuyu-1.