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Solo Oil’s Neil Ritson hails ‘major milestone’ at Ntorya as Aminex submits field development plan

Published: 02:39 06 Sep 2017 EDT

oil and gas operations
“Submission of the Ntorya Development Plan is a major milestone," Neil Ritson said.

Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) chairman Neil Ritson has hailed the submission of a field development plan for the Ntorya gas project, in Tanzania, as a ‘major milestone’.

The AIM-quoted oil and gas junior has a 25% stake in the Aminex PLC (LON:AEX) project, where a FDP has now been handed to the Tanzanian authorities.

WATCH: Solo Oil boss delighted with estimated Ntorya gas resources boost

Aminex today explained that the submission is a ‘key step’ towards securing a development licence and the commercialisation of the Ntorya gas discovery.

It highlighted that the development plan incorporates findings from a commercialisation study, prepared by io Oil and Gas consulting and that it includes the new mapping of Ntorya, which was the basis of a very significant new upgrade to resource estimates released earlier this week, which sees some 1.3 trillion cubic feet of gas at Ntorya.

Submission of plan major milestone

The submission is now subject to review by the Tanzanian authorities, and Aminex said it intends to update investors on the process before the spudding of the Ntorya-3 well, planned in the fourth quarter.

Solo Oil’s Neil Ritson, in a stock market statement, said: “Submission of the Ntorya Development Plan is a major milestone as we progress towards unlocking major value in the field and in the Ruvuma PSA generally.  

“Solo is working closely with Aminex on the development and monetisation options and also continues to consider its own monetisation options, which have been greatly enhanced by the significant resources upgrade announced earlier this week and the filing of the development plan. 

“We will continue to update the market as progress on commercialisation proceeds."

READ: Solo Oil boosted by major Aminex upgrade to Ntorya gas estimate

Aminex boss Jay Bhattacherjee, meanwhile, added: “Submission of the Ntorya field Development Plan is a major milestone for the company as we progress towards unlocking the value across Ntorya and Ruvuma as a whole.

“The company continues to work on further well plans in order to maximise development of the field and looks forward to updating shareholders in Q4 on the status of the Ntorya-3 well."

The field development plan incorporates a number of monetisation options for the Ntorya gas including sales of compressed natural gas, gas-to-power, and pipelined transportation of gas to market (which would be via a 35 kilometres spur into nearby infrastructure).

Aminex is anticipating a phased development, utilising an early production system using existing wells, which would see additional wells added to the development according to demand.

Aminex owns 75% of Ntorya, alongside partner Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) with the other 25%.

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on 21/7/17