Jacka Resources has announced that it is still considering withdrawal from Tanzania’s Ruhuhu Block following a failed farm-out campaign in September 2014.

This, according to Oil News Kenya, is the second time the company has considered a withdrawal from the licence. It initially announced in November 2015 that its management was exploring all options including relinquishment as the farm-out campaign initiated in September 2014 did not yield any positive interest.

“The Company is also seeking a possible withdrawal from its involvement in Tanzania, where it has had no success in attracting a farminee to its 100% interest in the Ruhuhu licence,” Max Cozijn, Jacka Resources chairman, said.

The company said it has, as a result, reduced its operating and overhead costs and remain focused on minimizing its financial coverage by all possible means including divesting the project. Jacka Resources, which operates the Tanzanian Ruhuhu block with 100% interest, is halfway through its 4 year exploration work program.

Under the terms of the Production Sharing Agreement for the project, the $4million minimum work program is required to be completed by March 2017. The Company is to also drill a well with estimated $10m minimum expenses on an identified target that may materialize from the exploration work program.

Jacka has expended a total of $1,709,525 on the Tanzanian Ruhuhu block so far. It has said that a prospective resource assessment at the Ruhuhu Block has put the highest estimate at 3.6 billion barrels of oil in both conventional and unconventional oil.

The Ruhuhu basin is located fully onshore and across the north east shore of Lake Nyasa from Malawi. The Basin is curtailed to the west by the Lake Malawi (Nyasa) Basin of the East African rift. The Nyasa basin contains total organic carbon (TOC) rich sediments like those of the Albertine Graben in western Uganda, where over 1 billion barrels of oil reserves have been discovered since 2006.

Anita Fatunji