Ophir Energy has completed its first drilling operations off the Tanzanian coast.
The company today confirmed drilling of the Mlinzi Mbali well on the block, which lies around 210 kilometres east of Dar es Salaam, had concluded with the well coming up dry.
The well was the first to be drilled in the block, with drilling operations carried out by the Deepsea Metro 1 drillship.
The ship will now be released to BG Group to drill an exploration well in Kenya, before returning to Tanzania for drilling work on Block 1 and on Ophir’s operated East Parade Block.
“Mlinzi Mbali-1 was the first of a series of high impact, high risk wells that will be drilled by Ophir through 2014,” said chief executive Nick Cooper.
“This frontier well disappointingly did not encounter live hydrocarbons, however it is the deepest stratigraphic test offshore Tanzania and will provide crucial information that will be integrated into our interpretation of the potential of Block 7 and the wider deepwater basins of Tanzania.”