Norway's Statoil and its partner ExxonMobil have increased the total volumes of gas-in-place at block 2 offshore Tanzania to some 20 Tcf following a new discovery with the Piri-1 well, Statoil said Wednesday.
The find, with estimated resources of 2-3 Tcf, is the partners' sixth in all and fifth high-impact discovery at the block.
It was preceded by the high-impact gas discoveries Zafarani-1, Lavani-1, Tangawizi-1 and Mronge-1, and a discovery in Lavani-2.
"The area has become a core exploration area in a very short period of time," Nick Maden, senior vice president for Statoil's exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere, said in a statement.
"We quickly went from drilling one well to a multi-well program," he said.
The new gas discovery was made in the same Lower Cretaceous sandstones as the gas discovery in the Zafarani-1 well drilled in 2012.
Maden said the partners would continue exploration and appraisal at the block throughout 2014 and 2015.
"We hope that the results from these wells will continue to add gas volumes for a future large-scale gas infrastructure development," he said.
Statoil operates block 2 on behalf of Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) and has a 65% working interest.
ExxonMobil holds the remaining 35%.
