(Ecofin Agency) - Royal Dutch Shell and joint venture partners have announced the commencement of drilling of two wells in Block 1 and 4, located in the Mafia Deep basin of Tanzania. The two wells are expected to meet the remaining exploration requirements in line with the exploration licences issued by the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM).

The joint venture partners will be investing nearly $80M into the well drilling programmes and the Noble Globe Trotter 2 rig employed for the programme will be drilling in waters up to 2300 metres deep.

Shell gained operatorship of the two blocks in February this year, after its merger with BG Group and has been working diligently with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and MEM to deliver the wells safely. The development of the blocks is part of the Tanzania LNG project, which is an important part of Tanzania’s national energy policy under the Vision 2025, Energy-pedia reports.

Shell and its partners, Pavilion Energy and Ophir Energy, are working together with TPDC and other Block 2 partners on the future development of Tanzania LNG. Blocks 1 and 4 have a net contingent (2C) resource of 3 Tcf (501mmboe) and a total gross contingent resource enough to support a three train LNG development.

Anita Fatunji