Orca Exploration Group announced that its subsidiary, Pan African Energy Tanzania Limited (PAET) has made an initial draw-down of US$20 million from the available US$60 million International Finance Corporation (IFC) loan facility which was signed on 29 October 2015
PAET intends to make additional drawdowns of the Loan which will be subject to meeting all conditions precedent on or before the time of drawdown.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution that offers investment, advisory, and asset management services to encourage private sector development in developing countries.
The US$20 million drawdown will be used to fund part of the first phase of PAET’s Songo Songo natural gas field development programme.
The Songo Songo development programme was designed to ensure the safety of existing suspended and operating wells and to increase production capacity to approximately 190 million standard cubic feet per day (“MMscfd”) of natural gas.
The programme will also provide operating redundancy and field deliverability to maintain current power and industrial gas sales plus provide additional deliverability to supply future gas sales.
Since programme commencement, existing production wells SS-5, SS-7 and SS-9 have been successfully worked over and recompleted. The Company is currently drilling a new production well SS-12, which is expected to be completed by mid-January 2016 after which time the initial phase of development will be complete.
The success of the workovers to date has increased field productive capacity from approximately 83 MMscfd to a current productive capacity of approximately 150 MMscfd.
When the programme is completed the field is expected to be able to produce approximately 190 MMscfd, which would both fill the existing Songas infrastructure to its capacity of approximately 102 MMscfd, and provide additional gas volumes to the newly commissioned National Natural Gas Infrastructure Project (“NNGIP”), as and when contracted.
“We are delighted with the success of the current workover and drilling programme,” said Orca Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Lyons, “The IFC financing has enabled the Company to significantly increase production capacity in Tanzania and ensure the continued reliable supply of natural gas to our customers.”