logo-loader

Solo Oil highlights ‘technical progress’ for Helium One in Tanzania

Last updated: 09:35 04 Dec 2017 EST, First published: 03:01 04 Dec 2017 EST

oil and gas operations
Work in 2018 will rank Helium One prospects ahead of drilling

Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) has highlighted ‘technical progress’ for the group’s Helium One investment in Tanzania where the group has been working to advance potential drill locations.

Operations have involved soil and seep geochemistry data, and work designed to enhance and reprocess existing seismic data in order to gain more detailed structural and stratigraphic mapping.

READ: Solo Oil unveils US$5mln convertible debt funding

Future work, planned for early 2018, will aim to enable a prospect ranking process which will inform the planning of future drilling.

“Recent technical work, especially the addition of improved seismic imaging, has significantly enhanced our ability to predict the likelihood of finding trapped helium in the subsurface,” said Solo chairman Neil Ritson.

“When that is combined with scoping studies for the development phase of any discovery we are increasingly confident that we will be able to reach low risk drilling decisions in the next year.”

Helium One chief executive Tom Abraham-James, meanwhile, said: "We are very pleased with the progress being made towards drilling and are delighted that Solo will be able to continue to directly assist the project over the coming months. 

READ: Aminex and Solo Oil temporarily reduce output from Tanzania gas field

“The scoping study recently conducted on the Songwe prospect in Rukwa by SRK Consulting fully supports the economic viability of development should the current exploration phase be successful with the drill bit."

Solo Oil has a 10% stake in Helium One and has agreements in place that could see its interest increase to 15% next year.

In a note to clients, analysts at house broker Shore Capital said that “following today’s update, we continue to believe that Helium One forms a very complementary and high impact part of Solo’s Tanzanian portfolio.”

They pointed out that their last published Risked NAV estimate for Solo Oil was 18p a share. In afternoon trading, the stock was changing hands at 3.88p each, down 3% or 0.12p on Friday’s close.

 -- Adds broker comment, share price --

Capital Network's Lionel Therond on Solo Oil Plc

Capital Network's oil and gas analyst Lionel Therond talks through Solo Oil Plc (LON:SOLO) and looks at the company's valuation and outlook.

on 21/7/17