AUSTRALIAN energy firm, Invictus Energy Limited’s, market capitalisation added US$38,08 million after declaring a gas discovery at its second drill site in the Cabora Bassa project, 300km northeast of Zimbabwe.
The company put a halt on trading of its 1 290 824 191 listed shares on the Australian Securities Exchange Ltd on Tuesday to prepare for the gas discovery announcement.
On the day, Invictus’s trading closed at AUD0,16 per share for a market capitalisation of AUD206,53 million (US$135,51 million).
Following yesterday’s declaration of a gas discovery from its second drill site, Mukuyu 2, trading of Invictus shares resumed at AUD0,205 per share for a market capitalisation of AUD264,62 million (US$173,59 million) at the time of writing.
In a statement yesterday, Invictus said it had discovered gas at the Mukuyu-2 sidetrack well in the Upper Angwa formation.
“The discovery represents one of the most significant developments in the onshore southern Africa oil and gas industry for decades,” managing director Scott Macmillan said in a statement.
“The perseverance and hard work by of our dedicated team has paid off. The company has delivered an exceptional result from the first two wells drilled in Mukuyu, which provides us with significant running room in our large portfolio of prospects and leads for further discoveries in our acreage in the Cabora Bassa basin.”
The Cabora Bassa project is in the Muzarabani district of Mashonaland Central province.
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“The Mukuyu-2 discovery, 7km away and 450 metres updip of the Mukuyu-1 well, which can subsequently be classified as a discovery, provides confirmation of the large potential of the Mukuyu field which has a structural closure of over 200km2,” Macmillan said.
“With additional hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs ahead, the focus now is to complete the drilling and evaluation programme and obtain further wireline data including fluid samples to declare an additional discovery from the Lower Angwa formation.”
Invictus said four hydrocarbon samples were recovered to surface from two separate zones in the Upper Angwa using the wireline formation testing tool.
“A further two formation water samples were recovered from the Basal Pebbly Arkose formation,” the company said.
Invictus said gas and fluid properties from the recovered samples would be confirmed following laboratory testing once the sample bottles are dispatched from the rig for analysis.
Mines and Mining Development minister Zhemu Soda said the gas discovery “will have a positive impact on the economic and social development of Zimbabwe”.
“Gas will also support the diversification of Zimbabwe’s energy mix, enhance its energy security and create jobs and opportunities for local communities. We are confident that this discovery will open new horizons for Zimbabwe.”
He, however, added that an oil discovery had not yet been confirmed as further exploration, tests and evaluations were still ongoing.
“The discovery pronounced will definitely change the economic landscape of the country,” Soda said.
He said the discovery was a result of government partnering Geo Associates (Pvt) Limited as it provided appropriate mining title as well as a conducive regulatory and fiscal environment.
GEO Associates is a local firm which is the licence holder of a special grant issued to explore gas and oil in Muzarabani.
