A message from the Managing Director
We have entered another period of busy activity at Invictus Energy, with our next phase of exploration in Zimbabwe’s frontier Cabora Bassa Basin now underway.
The Phase 2 exploration campaign officially commenced this month with the start of operations for the 2D seismic survey being carried out by Polaris.
The 400-line kilometre 2D seismic survey is aimed at maturing already identified leads into drill ready prospects to add to the Company’s existing gross mean prospective resources in the Cabora Bassa Basin of 5.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
About 100 local employees will be involved in the seismic campaign, the vast majority from the local communities where the seismic infill operations are focused. This aligns with the Company’s shared prosperity approach to ensure all stakeholders, including the local community, benefit from finding, developing and producing natural resources.
We also remain on track to spud the Mukuyu-2 appraisal well in the third quarter of 2023, a follow up to the play opening Mukuyu-1/ST1 well, which confirmed a working hydrocarbon system in the Cabora Bassa basin.
Providing us further confidence for the upcoming drilling campaign is the excellent results we have received from analysis of five priority mud gas samples from Mukuyu-1.
The results confirm the Upper Angwa reservoirs contain light oil and liquids rich gas, with a condensate-gas-ratio estimated between 30 to 135 barrels of condensate per million cubic feet of gas.
The analysed samples also demonstrate a consistent, high-quality natural gas composition, exhibiting low inert content, containing less than 1% carbon dioxide, which will require minimal processing.
Our analysis also uncovered the presence of helium at commercial concentrations of ~0.1%, which will provide an additional high value by-product from the gas streams.
This could present a significant additional revenue stream for the Company, given the current long-term contract bulk helium price is roughly US$450 per thousand cubic feet, which is 50-100 times greater than typical long term natural gas prices.
Demand for helium is being driven by its unique chemical properties that make it irreplaceable in many high-end technological applications, including semiconductor and fibre optic fabrication, aerospace, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and cryogenics.
It is also important to note the concentration of helium at Mukuyu is potentially greater within the reservoir as helium can escape through the micropores in glass isotubes used for gas sampling and storage, due to its small particle size.
Results from the mud gas analysis confirm our geological modelling of the Cabora Bassa Basin and the presence of multiple hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs in the Mukuyu-1 / ST-1 well, providing valuable information as we prepare to drill the Mukuyu-2 appraisal well.
Success at Mukuyu-2 and confirmation of a significant discovery will further unlock the value of our material portfolio and basin master position in the Cabora Bassa Basin, while placing the Company on a pathway towards development.
The Company is well funded for this exciting phase of exploration and appraisal, having received strong support from both existing retail investors through the Share Purchase Placement and from new and existing investors via the recent Private Placements.
Our recent capital raising initiatives have successfully raised a combined $35.4 million, placing the Company in a strong position for the Phase 2 campaign.
We are only at the start of the next phase of our journey in the Cabora Bassa Basin and I look forward to providing more updates as we progress both the seismic program and the upcoming drilling of Mukuyu-2.