Zim stares at oil and gas breakthrough

Zim stares at oil and gas breakthrough

Hosia Mviringi

Zimbabwe is poised for a major transformational breakthrough, as latest progress reports on the ongoing oil and gas exploration in the Cabora Bassa Basin point towards an imminent oil discovery.

In an update to investors issued today November 10, 2022, the Australia Stock Exchange (ASX) listed oil and gas exploration company, Invictus Energy, expressed confidence that the projected targets will be achieved.

“Early indications in our Upper Angwa primary target are highly encouraging and have proven a conventional working hydrocarbon system in the Cabora Bassa Basin, which is an exciting development validating our subsurface model,” said Invictus Managing Director Scott Macmillan in a statement accompanying the update.

Macmillan revealed that the latest results, which come when the company still has a few hundred more meters of drilling in order to reach the targeted 3500 meters of Measured Depth (mMD), are just but a foretaste of better things yet to come.

“The presence of elevated gas mud readings, fluorescence on the cuttings, elevated Logging While Drilling (LWD) resistivity and increasing background gas with depth is a positive sign as we progress through the Upper Angwa Member.

“We still have several hundred meters of drilling through our primary targets with additional potential, which will be followed by a comprehensive wireline logging programme to evaluate results with the aim of confirming the presence of moveable hydrocarbons in multiple zones,” Macmillan further said.

To date a depth of 3,086 mMD has been drilled with results showing an elevated mud gas peak of up to 65 times above background gas baseline having been observed while drilling through a depth of 3,070 mMD, showing a marked increase from C1 to C5 compounds (methane, ethane, propane, butane’s, and pentanes).

The report also reveals a 100 percent fluorescence in downhole cuttings sample of sandstone retrieved from a depth of about 3,070mMD, indicating a presence of condensate or light oil when placed under ultraviolet light.

The news has seen Invictus jumping 162% on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Invictus shares spiked 161.9% as of 16.10 Australian time to 0.275 AUD, hitting an intra-day high of 0.30 earlier in the day, to lead the ASX small cap risers. The company now sits on market cap of AUD230.95 million.