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Senior Business Writer

AUSTRALIA oil and gas exploration firm, Invictus Energy, managing director Mr Scott Macmillan says the firm’s recognition for the second largest discovery made in Sub-Saharan Africa last year confirms confidence in the quality and scale of the new gas field in Zimbabwe.

Wood Mackenzie, a global insight business for renewables, energy and natural resources, placed Mukuyu Fields as the second largest discovery made in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023 behind Shell’s Jonker-1 discovery in the Orange Basin in Namibia.

Mukuyu’s placing as an estimated 230 million barrel of oil equivalent (boe )(1,3 trillion cubic feet) resource follows two gas discoveries from the Upper and Lower Angwa reservoirs declared by Invictus in December last year.

Mr Macmillan said having the Mukuyu discovery independently recognised as one of the largest discoveries in 2023 and acknowledged among several multinationals confirms confidence in the quality and scale of the new gas field.

It is from this recognition that the energy resource firm can upscale further operations.

“There remains significant upside for Invictus to build on the Mukuyu discovery and convert prospective resources in undrilled fault blocks in the Mukuyu field into contingent resources, laying the pathway to mature the reserves through further drilling.

“Invictus’ dominant 360,000ha position in the Cabora Bassa basin provides the company with further opportunities to deliver subsequent discoveries from its substantial portfolio of drill-ready prospects and leads following the basin opening discoveries delivered from the first two wells,” said Mr Macmillan.

In the quarter to December, the firm posted significant milestones headlined by the two gas discoveries from Mukuyu-2 in Upper and Lower Angwa formations and signing of a gas supply memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mbuyu Energy for the latter’s proposed 500-megawatt (MW) gas-to-power project, setting a strong pathway towards development.

It also declared two material discoveries after recovering a total of 15 downhole gas-condensate samples from both the Upper and Lower Angwa targets from the Mukuyu-2 drilling campaign, with a combined preliminary net pay of 34, 9 million.

This marked one of the most significant developments in the onshore southern Africa oil and gas industry for decades.

The firm is on record indicating that the country could be sitting on more than 5,5 billion barrels of oil. A barrel of oil equivalent (boe) is a term used to summarise the amount of energy that is equivalent to the amount of energy found in a barrel of crude oil.

In the same quarter, Invictus and Mbuyu Energy signed an updated Gas Sales MOU for the supply of gas for a 500MW gas to power project.

Under the MOU, Invictus would supply gas to Mbuyu to the power project plant, which can be expanded up to 1,000MW in the future with a forecast total demand of 1,4 TCF of natural gas required over 20 years.

The updated MOU is built on the previous MOU signed in December 2019 with Tatanga Energy.

The MOU is a precursor to the negotiation of a full long-term gas sale agreement (GSA) to supply sufficient gas to power the proposed plant.

The plant can be expanded in future phases to up to 1 000MW (equating to a forecasted demand of approximately 1,4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over 20 years).

The company estimates the Mukuyu fields to hold 34,9 trillion cubic feet of condensate gas.

The discovery of gas is expected to drive Zimbabwe’s economic growth, export earnings, and Government revenue, create new jobs and downstream industries among other positive spin-offs.