Solo Oil Plc Ntorya Gas Field Resource Upgrade (6590P)

TIDMSOLO

RNS Number : 6590P

Solo Oil Plc

04 September 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4 September 2017

SOLO OIL PLC

("Solo" or the "Company")

Ntorya Gas Field, Material Resource Upgrade to over 1.3 TCF

Solo, the resource investment company, today announces that Aminex plc ("Aminex") operator of the Ruvuma Petroleum Sharing Agreement ("Ruvuma PSA") in Tanzania, where Solo holds a 25% interest, has confirmed a further material increase in the estimates of gas initially in place ('GIIP') in the Ntorya appraisal area.

Aminex has upgraded the unrisked resource estimates from 466 billion cubic feet ("bcf") Pmean GIIP to approximately 1,344 bcf Pmean GIIP. This three-fold increase from the estimate provided immediately after the Ntorya-2 well and issued in late April 2017 is based on ongoing technical work which includes; data from the successful Ntorya-2 appraisal well, and subsequent re-evaluation of existing seismic, including reprocessing of select seismic lines and detailed review of all well data associated with the onshore Ruvuma basin. The results of the additional work and the Ntorya-2 well have led to nearly an overall ten-fold increase in the estimated in place resources in the Ntorya gas-condensate field as compared to the estimates made following the original discovery well Ntorya-1.

Based on this recent work, Solo now holds net resources of approximately 335 bcf Pmean GIIP, which the Company estimates to be in excess of 200 bcf (35 million barrels oil equivalent) of contingent resources net to its 25% interest.

These internal Operator estimates cover the Ntorya appraisal area only and do not include the potential of the adjoining exploration acreage. Aminex, on behalf of the Ruvuma PSA, is in the process of engaging an independent third party auditor to prepare an updated reserves and resource report ("Competent Persons Report") for the Ruvuma PSA.

The partners in the Ruvuma PSA also continue to work with io oil & gas consultancy (a joint venture between Baker Hughes, a GE Company, and McDermott) to prepare a gas commercialisation plan which will be submitted together with the Ntorya Field development plan to the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation ("TPDC") in September.

Neil Ritson, Executive Chairman of Solo, commented:

"The updated modelling, mapping and corresponding resource numbers continue to confirm that the Ruvuma Basin is a major resource for Solo and its partner, Aminex, and is of significant national importance to Tanzania. We and Aminex are working with the TPDC on an optimal development plan to begin the Ntorya Field into production as quickly as possible."

For further information:

 
 Solo Oil plc 
  Neil Ritson / Fergus 
  Jenkins                    [phone] 
 
 Beaumont Cornish Limited 
  Nominated Adviser and 
  Joint Broker 
  Roland Cornish             [phone] 
  Shore Capital 
   Joint Broker 
   Jerry Keen 
   Beaufort Securities 
   Joint Broker 
   Jon Belliss 
   Buchanan (PR)              [phone] 
   Ben Romney / Chris          [phone] 
   Judd / Henry Wilson         [phone] 
 

Qualified Person's Statement:

The information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and approved by Neil Ritson, Chairman and Director for Solo Oil plc, who has over 39 years of relevant experience in geology, resource estimation and the oil and gas industry. Mr. Ritson is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), an Active Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London (BGS).

Glossary:

 
 bcf                    billion cubic feet 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 discovery              a petroleum accumulation for 
                         which one or several exploratory 
                         wells have established through 
                         testing, sampling and/or logging 
                         the existence of a significant 
                         quantity of potentially moveable 
                         hydrocarbons 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 condensate             gas condensates are liquids that 
                         can condense from gas when the 
                         temperature and pressure drop 
                         sufficiently low, typically condensates 
                         exhibit API gravities of > 45 
                         degree 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 contingent resources   those quantities of petroleum 
                         estimated, at a given date, to 
                         be potentially recoverable from 
                         known accumulations, but the 
                         associated projects are not yet 
                         considered mature enough for 
                         commercial development due to 
                         one or more contingencies 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 GIIP                   gas initially in-place 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 in-place               the volume of hydrocarbons, oil 
                         or gas, estimated to be in place 
                         within the reservoir converted 
                         to standard temperature and pressure 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 Pmean                  the most likely estimate of a 
                         parameter based on all available 
                         data being the estimate at the 
                         mean of the probability distribution 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 PSA                    petroleum sharing agreement 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 resources              those quantities of petroleum 
                         which are estimated, at a given 
                         date, to be present in a discovered 
                         accumulation 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 seismic                the use of sound waves generated 
                         by a controlled source to ascertain 
                         the nature of the subsurface 
                         structure, lithology and fluid 
                         content 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 tcf                    trillion cubic feet 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 TPDC                   Tanzania Petroleum Development 
                         Corporation 
---------------------  ----------------------------------------- 
 

Notes to Editors:

Solo Oil plc (Solo), is a natural resources investment company with a diverse portfolio of onshore assets, principally in Europe and Africa. The company seeks to deliver returns through early stage investment in promising projects and uses management's own sector expertise to assist in strategic asset development. Solo's portfolio currently includes extensive interests in the prolific Ruvuma Basin in Tanzania, the Horse Hill oil discovery in the Weald Basin, Helium One Limited, the Tanzanian helium exploration company, and Kiliwani North, a natural gas producing project in Tanzania.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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September 04, 2017 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)