{"id":13424,"date":"2023-02-01T11:34:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T11:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/?p=13424"},"modified":"2023-03-09T11:45:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T11:45:27","slug":"tanzania-orca-energy-provides-operational-update-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/tanzania-orca-energy-provides-operational-update-2\/","title":{"rendered":"TANZANIA: Orca Energy Provides Operational Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OPERATIONAL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Production<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Gross sales of conventional natural gas, classified as Additional Gas (as defined in the PSA (as defined herein)) (\u201c<strong>gas sales<\/strong>\u201d) averaged 95.5 MMscfd during Q4 2022 which increased average gas sales to 86.8 MMscfd for the year 2022, representing a 42% increase from 2021.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Orca forecasts average gross gas sales of 95.0 MMscfd during 2023, representing a 9% increase over 2022 sales of 86.8 MMscfd and a 55% increase over 2021 sales of 61.1 MMscfd.\u00a0 The increased gas demand forecast is primarily driven by the requirements of the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and Tanzanian Electric Supply Company Limited (<strong>TANESCO<\/strong>) for gas supply to support growing demand for gas to power, due in part to lower than normal rainfall in \u00a0Tanzanian and supply going to new generation facilities, which were commissioned during 2022.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>During the Q4 2022 further testing of the SS-4 well took place following completion of the well workover program. At year-end 2022 the SS-4 well was shut in due to pressure buildup, and further testing is expected to occur in 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Demand Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>From Q2 2022 to the end of Q3 2022, overall demand from the Songo Songo gas field increased to 120-130 MMscfd from the previous historic highs of 100-110 MMscfd within days of commissioning the inlet compression at the Songas gas plant. This increased demand was sustained from Q2 2022 to the end of Q3 2022 due in part to drought conditions in 2022 in Tanzania.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Early in Q4 2022 TPDC and TANESCO requested supply of a further 20 MMscfd to supply the Kinyerezi 1 power plant extension, bringing total field offtake close to the maximum deliverability of 150+MMscfd. Orca was pleased to support this request and as a result is now supplying approximately 71% total domestic gas production in Tanzania, supporting around 50% of total power generation in the country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We are currently discussing the sustainability of this increased demand with TPDC and TANESCO to evaluate options for further development of the Songo Songo gas field to meet this potential longer-term gas supply requirements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These options to increase sustainable demand include accelerated well workovers, infill wells to existing field compartments, new development wells in new areas of the field and the addition of further compression to the upstream plants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Seismic Program<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Company is currently carrying out a 3D seismic acquisition program, budgeted at $22.1 million in order to de-risk future development drilling and to evaluate the potential of prospective resources for exploration drilling. The Company awarded and signed a contract with African Geophysical Services LLP on July 7, 2022, to acquire approximately 181 square kilometers of 3D marine, transition zone and land based seismic over the Songo Songo license area. As at December 31, 2022 line cutting for the land portion of the survey was in progress and mobilization and commissioning of the marine equipment was ongoing; all in preparation for commencement of the acquisition program in early 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jay Lyons, Chief Executive Officer, commented:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am pleased to report that Orca continued to deliver operationally at the end of 2022 and into 2023. The Company increased gas sales by 42% over the course of 2022, compared with the previous year. We continue to respond to record high gas demand in Tanzania, which we are doing our best to supply. As such, we anticipate our gross gas sales to average between 90 and 100 MMscfd during 2023, with a midpoint of 95 MMscfd. In order to sustain this increased demand, further investment is required in addition to the $22.1 million the Company is currently spending on a 3D seismic acquisition program, which is designed to de-risk future drilling and field development. The Company prepared and approved an initial 2023 firm and contingent capital budget of $53.5 million to complete and process the 3D seismic, install additional compression, install additional sand control equipment, replace aging flow lines and prepare for a potential 2024 development drilling program including the procurement of long lead items.&nbsp; However, with the emergence of longer term high levels of gas demand and discussions with our Tanzanian partners, we are currently revisiting the 2023 capital program to align with a potential longer term investment program including near term discussions on a development licence renewal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Financially, we continue to benefit from a strong balance sheet, with $96.3 million of cash and cash equivalents at year end and with increasing gas sales, our revenues will remain at elevated levels. This affords the Company the financial flexibility to fund longer term production growth opportunities at Songo Songo Island, to support Tanzania\u2019s growing economy, while maintaining a strong balance sheet and shareholder returns.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OPERATIONAL Production Demand Growth Seismic Program Jay Lyons, Chief Executive Officer, commented: \u201cI am pleased to report that Orca continued to deliver operationally at the end of 2022 and into &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/tanzania-orca-energy-provides-operational-update-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":13425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7442,7443,11],"tags":[10663,8153,2272,2365,11100,2463,2543],"class_list":["post-13424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-countries","category-eastern-africa","category-top-news","tag-african-geophysical-services","tag-orca-energy","tag-seismic","tag-songo-songo","tag-ss-4-well","tag-tanesco","tag-tpdc","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Tanzania-gas-distribution.jpg?fit=1921%2C1081&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JWkQ-3uw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6201,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/orca-exploration-receives-government-approval-additional-gas-plan-2-songo-songo-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":13424,"position":0},"title":"Orca Exploration Receives Government approval of Additional Gas Plan 2 from the Songo Songo Field","author":"","date":"July 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Orca Exploration Group has announced the approval of the Second Additional Gas Plan (AGP-2) by the Government of Tanzania, more than doubling the available volume of Additional Gas for sale from the Songo Songo Field. Under the Production Sharing Agreement for the Songo Songo gas field, production is identified as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Top News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/PanAfrican-Energy-Tanzania-Ltd-East-Africa-.jpg?fit=645%2C331&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/PanAfrican-Energy-Tanzania-Ltd-East-Africa-.jpg?fit=645%2C331&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/PanAfrican-Energy-Tanzania-Ltd-East-Africa-.jpg?fit=645%2C331&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4386,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/orca-exploration-completes-offshore-workover-drilling-program-phase-at-songo-songo\/","url_meta":{"origin":13424,"position":1},"title":"Orca Exploration completes offshore workover &#038; drilling program phase at Songo Songo","author":"","date":"February 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Orca Exploration Group Inc announces the successful completion of its offshore workover and drilling program and the release of the Paragon M826 mobile drilling workover rig from the Songo Songo Main Field. The Off-Shore Programme of the Songo Songo Main Field development programme included workovers on three existing wells (SS-5,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Dar es Salaam\"","block_context":{"text":"Dar es Salaam","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/tag\/dar-es-salaam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/orca-exploration.gif?fit=400%2C553&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6198,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/swala-oil-gas-seeks-minority-investment-orca-group\/","url_meta":{"origin":13424,"position":2},"title":"Swala Oil &#038; Gas Seeks minority investment in the Orca Group","author":"","date":"August 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Orca Exploration Group has confirmed that it is in discussions with Swala Oil & Gas (Tanzania) plc regarding a possible minority investment in PAE PanAfrican Energy Corporation (PAEM), a Mauritius-registered company that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. Orca which is the operator of the 879 Bcf Songo Songo\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Top News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/swala-energy-orca-exploration.png?fit=331%2C303&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7494,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/pan-african-energy-supplies-extra-gas-to-tanzania-in-new-short-term-sales-agreement\/","url_meta":{"origin":13424,"position":3},"title":"Pan African Energy Supplies Extra Gas To Tanzania in New Short Term Sales Agreement","author":"","date":"January 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Orca has announced that shortly before the year ended its Tanzania subsidiary Pan African Energy Tanzania Limited signed a short-term sales agreement with the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) for the immediate supply of gas to TANESCO of up to 35 million standard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Top News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/songosongo.png?fit=401%2C555&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3966,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/orca-exploration-closes-60-million-financing-for-tanzanias-songo-songo-development-from-ifc\/","url_meta":{"origin":13424,"position":4},"title":"Orca Exploration Closes $60 million financing for Tanzania\u2019s Songo Songo development from IFC","author":"","date":"October 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Orca Exploration has announced that it has entered into a loan agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, for a US$60 million investment in the Company's operating subsidiary, PanAfrican Energy Tanzania Limited (PAET). According to Orca Exploration the proceeds of the Loan will be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"International Finance Corporation\"","block_context":{"text":"International Finance Corporation","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/tag\/international-finance-corporation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Paragon-Offshore-jack-up-rig-M826.jpg?fit=356%2C213&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13427,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/tanzania-orca-energy-group-inc-announces-independent-reserves-evaluation-for-year-end-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":13424,"position":5},"title":"TANZANIA: Orca Energy Group Inc. Announces Independent Reserves Evaluation for Year End 2022","author":"","date":"February 27, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Company\u2019s conventional natural gas reserves as at December 31, 2022 for the period to the end of the primary (25 year) term of the production sharing agreement with the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (the TPDC) have been evaluated by independent petroleum engineering consultants McDaniel & Associates Consultants Ltd. in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Countries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Countries","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/countries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Tanzania-Songo-Songo.jpg?fit=347%2C372&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13426,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13424\/revisions\/13426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}