Orca Exploration Plans $120 mn Expenditure on Songo Songo Field Development

Orca Exploration Group plans to commence first phase of development work on Songo Songo natural gas field offshore Tanzania at a cost of $120 million.

The field currently produces approximately 91 million standard cubic feet per day (MMcfd), which is less than the existing Songas Limited infrastructure capacity of approximately 102 MMcfd.

“In order to fill the existing Songas infrastructure to capacity and provide operational redundancy, the Company is contemplating a first phase of offshore development consisting of working over two existing wells (SS-5 and SS-9) that are currently suspended, working over an existing production well (SS-7) and drilling a new offshore development well (SS-12),” the company said earlier this year.

The infrastructure includes two processing plants with a capacity of 35 MMcfd on Songo Songo Island; a 25-kilometre 12-inch pipeline to Somanga Funga and a 207-kilometre 16-inch gas pipeline to Dar es Salaam.

Orca Exploration Group operates one licence in Tanzania which comprises two blocks known as the Discovery Blocks. The license contains the large Songo Songo gas field offshore Songo Songo Island (SSI).

The license has a total area of approximately 41,630 acres (170 km2). The blocks are located in shallow water approximately 15 kilometres off the coast and 200 kilometres south of Dar es Salaam.