Polaris wins Zimbabwe seismic from Invictus – News for the Oil and Gas Sector

Invictus Energy has signed up Polaris Natural Resources to acquire 2D seismic in Zimbabwe’s Cabora Bassa Basin.

Polaris will acquire at least 400 line km of 2D. The aim of the programme is to identify a drilling location for the first well, Mzarabani-1.

“Polaris is very pleased to support Invictus on this world-class project. The combination of technologies being employed represent not only the lightest seismic footprint possible, but also allows for very fast and high-resolution data acquisition,” said the seismic company’s CEO Bill Mooney.

Invictus signed a Petroleum Exploration Development and Production Agreement (PEDPA) with Zimbabwe in late March.

The seismic company will begin moving seismic equipment and personnel to Harare in the coming weeks, it said.

“Our exploration programme is on track, and the significant amount of preparatory work that we have undertaken is paying off,” said Invictus managing director Scott Macmillan.

“The seismic programme will enable us to refine the Mzarabani-1 target defined from the existing seismic dataset and help us fill our prospect inventory ahead of our basin-opening drilling campaign. We are very excited to get our exploration program underway.”

Invictus also said it had appointed Barry Meikle to be the seismic project manager.

Mobil acquired a substantial amount of seismic and other data on the Zimbabwe licence in the 1990s. Invictus believes there may be 8.2 trillion cubic feet (232 billion cubic metres) in the Mzarabani prospect.

Invictus has said it may drill a well on the licence in the second half of the year. Reconnaissance Energy Africa’s recent success in Namibia’s onshore Kavango Basin is likely to have encouraged Invictus.

ReconAfrica awarded Polaris work in the Namibian basin in January. The Namibian contract was for 450 km of 2D seismic.