Discovered in the 1970s but not developed until 2004, the Songo Songo field was Tanzania's first natural gas development and was an orphan development for many years.

Two 35 million cubic feet per day processing trains were built on the island, since upgraded, and prepared the gas for transportation along a 25km 12-inch pipeline to the mainland, and then into a 207km-long 16-inch pipe to the Ubungo power plant, which generates almost half of the country's capacity.

But demand for electrical power in Tanzania for is soaring - in the 18 months to the end of 2007, 310 megawatts of new gas-fired generation was installed in the Dar Es Salaam area alone, and demand is forecast to grow by about 50MW a year for the foreseeable future.

Clearly, Songo Songo couldn't stay an orphan forever.

Venture

Bounty is tapping into that growth in its long-standing joint venture with London-based Aminex.

Bounty first went into Tanzania in 2003 under founder Tom Fontaine and drilled an oil exploration well in the Nyuni Block, but it was the discovery of gas on Songo Songo Island in Kiliwani North-1 several years later that has changed Bounty's fortunes.

JV partners have come and gone, but Aminex and Bounty have stuck with the project and Bounty expects a single well development to generate around $US2.5 million ($3.39 million) per annum for its 10% interest in the field once production starts.

The Kiliwani North gas pool has 45 billion cubic feet of certified reserves behind pipe.

The well sits just 2km from the Songo Songo gas plant on an island 15km off the Tanzanian coast, about 200km south of the capital Dar Es Salaam.

An upgrade of the Songo Songo plant is nearly complete and handover of the new plant and infrastructure scheduled for next quarter, while the Kiliwani North-1 christmas tree connection to pipeline is in its in final phase, Kelso said.

Production is expected to be between 20-30MMcfpd.

All that remains is for Aminex to finalise the gas sales agreement, with the final sticking point being sovereign payment guarantees

Upside

Kelso told Energy News the company would have very few operating expenses from the single well field, and there is only upside.

"They [Tanzania] want us to provide more gas, but that is something we are still discussing between the JV partners," he said.

Discovered in 2007, Kiliwani North-1 has taken a long time to develop, with the major factor being construction of a Chinese-funded pipeline from southern Tanzania to Dar Es Salam that will enable the gas field to reach its market.

The Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation has also built a new gas plant nearby.

"The idea is that we will get the gas going from Kiliwani North-1, but then the plant will act as an aggregation point for any gas we may find offshore, so we won't need to build a big offshore LNG-type facility if we discover gas in the east of the Nyuni block, where we have a number of very exciting AVO anomalies which we're going to do 3D seismic over," Kelso said.

New 3D seismic is planned to image deepwater turbidite gas plays of up to 1.3 trillion cubic feet potential that have been defined to date.

"This is a two stage process. We have the cashflow from the well we have drilled, and then we have other targets in the area to explore," Kelso explained.

Bounty has 5% of the surrounding PSA, and while a deepwater offshore well would cost some $50 million Kelso says the company expects to be able to participate in any drilling.

"Bounty has handled this project so far, and we have a good level of equity. Tanzania is expanding, and it has taken a long time to get to this point, but the Tanzanian government is very supportive of exploration and we find it a good place to operate," he said.

There are is a mix of shallow targets within a relatively short distance of Songo Songo Island and the deeper water targets in the east.

"There is definitely more gas in the block," Kelso said.

"There are also indications of oil in Nyuni-1A, but the oil has never really been understood."

The Nyuni-1/1A wells were drilled from Nyuni Island to test a 240 million barrel Songo Songo-style Neocomian target just offshore between October 2003 and May 2004.

The well suffered deviation problems while drilling to its total depth of 3903m, with the Early Cretaceous strata deeper than expected, however it proved oil is being sourced from the Upper Jurassic source rocks for the first time.

The well remains suspended for a re-entry.

"It appears to be very close to the updip edge of Ophir Energy's deep Pande lead," Kelso said.

The second planned prospect, Okuza, remains undrilled, with Bounty electing to drill Kiliwani-1 in 2007 instead.

The well was dry, with the Neocomian sands below the gas water contact.

Kelso says Bounty is keen to expand in Tanzania now it has established production.

"It's a logical step for us to take. The resources game is a hard game at the moment, but it's fantastic," he said.

"We've got our paws on a few things we are working on quietly, and we think it is always darkest before the dawn."

Riding the wave

Interest in Tanzania has been heating up for the past decade, and Bounty hopes to ride that rising tide.

There have been a number of deepwater gas discoveries in the deeper water areas, and that could become the new focus of the JV.

A new 3D seismic survey is planned, and tendering is ongoing, with the focus on a lead up-dip of prospects in Ophir's East Pande permit, as well as a number of deep water channel/fan features that are apparent from the limited seismic coverage available with associated seismic anomalies.

Over the years that Bounty has been in Tanzania it has seen the nation's gas resources increase from a few hundred billion cubic feet to what is now estimated to be about 55Tcf following new deep sea discoveries off its southern coast, following a trend that stretches into Mozambique.

Energy minister George Simbachawene said earlier this year that natural gas resources discovered in the country rose 18% from 46.5Tcf in June 2014 to 55.08Tcf in April 2015.

The 532km pipeline and gas processing plants, financed by a $US1.225 billion Chinese loan, were initially expected to be completed last year but were delayed from going online due to technical setbacks.

The connection is expected next month, two months earlier than expected.

The Mtwara gas pipeline will enable the country to produce 2800MW of power by 2016.

The processing plant at Madimba will have a capacity to process 200MMcfpd, and will be upbgradable to 600MMcfpd. The pipeline capacity is 780MMcfpd.

The government said the pipeline would enable the country to switch to gas-fired power plants and reduce oil imports, hence leading to annual savings of over $1 billion.

Tanzania, east Africa's second biggest economy, has been hit by chronic energy shortages for several years.

With the new gas supplies it is developing a new 240MW power plant and is constructing 1148km of a new 400 kilovolt power line in the north-west, again funded by a $US693 million loan from China's Exim Bank.

Tanzania is undergoing an economic revolution, supported by an increasing mining sector, primarily gold, with it the fourth largest gold producer in Africa, and graphite, the latter an emerging mineral in the technology space, and rare earths.

In 2014 the Fraser Institute voted it the eighth most attractive exploration destination in Africa, with the new finds and policies to support mining investment leading to a growth in infrastructure.

Further infrastructure, made possible by the spread of the domestic gas sector, could lead to new developments such as the giant Kabanga nickel project, owned by Barrick and Glencore, which has stalled due to a lack of power options.

Other Australians in Tanzania include Swala Energy, Otto Energy and Jacka Resources, although they are all focused on the East African Rift System on the mainland.

Bounty also has a suite of Australian assets, primarily its 40% share of the Utopia oil field in Queensland and its 2% share in the Naccowlah Block, both in the Cooper-Eromanga Basin, which generate around 6000bbl per quarter, with revenue of around $4000 at current prices.

The Downlands field in the Surat Basin, Queensland, is shut in pending lease renewal and development, and it maintains two big impact exploration permits: 15% share in PEP 11, New South Wales' only offshore permit and 100% of AC/P32 in the Timor Sea where it is seeking partners to redrill the 100MMbbl Azalea prospect.