Invictus Energy Limited said that the drilling at the Mukuyu-1 exploration well in SG 4571 has commenced on Friday 24 September local time. This was stated in an update on the activities of its 80% owned and operated Cabora Bassa project in Zimbabwe.

 Drilling will commence from the installed conductor at 67m to a planned depth of ~650m in the 17½ inch intermediate hole section. The Mukuyu-1 well is designed to target several stacked Triassic and younger sandstones within a 200km2 four-way dip closure on the basement high trend.

 Mukuyu is one of the largest oil and gas exploration prospects to be drilled globally in 2022, targeting a combined prospective resource potential of 20 trillion cubic feet and 845 million barrels of conventional gas condensate, or about 4.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent on a gross mean unrisked basis# . Mukuyu-1 will be drilled to a projected depth of 3,500 metres. Drilling and evaluation of the well is prognosed to take approximately 50 to 60 days to complete. The Company will provide regular updates as the two-well drilling campaign progresses. A video overview of the Mukuyu prospect has been released to the Company’s website. Mukuyu-1 will be followed by the Baobab-1 well, which will test an independent play along the basin margin in the EPO 1849 block and take approximately 30 to 40 days to complete. Baobab-1 well will target stacked Cretaceous and younger sandstones, within four-way and three-way dip closures, against the southern basin bounding rift fault.

 “This is an exciting and long-anticipated moment for Invictus and our shareholders. “Invictus, together with our partners, have methodically de-risked and matured the Mukuyu prospect and our Cabora Bassa acreage over the last several years and the commencement of our drilling campaign is a significant milestone. “Mukuyu-1 is a world-class, basin opening well which, if successful, could be transformative for the Company and Zimbabwe,” Invictus Managing Director Scott Macmillan commented.