Chinese company China Petroleum and Technology Development Co. (CPTDC), has been awarded a contract to design, supply, install and commission natural gas compressors for exploration company Orca Energy, to be used in the company’s Songas facility, on Songo Songo Island in Tanzania.

Orca signed the agreement with CPTDC earlier this month for an estimated cost of $38 million, $6 million of which were already disbursed in 2019 while a further $19 million will be spent throughout 2020. The remainder will be paid in the run-up to the end of the first quarter of 2022 when Orca expects the compressors to be operational.

The new equipment will add to the refrigeration system previously installed at the site and will help tackle declining reservoir pressure while maximizing production output, ensuring the facility will be able to respond and sustain increases in demand through to the end of the production sharing agreement in 2026.

Nigel Friend, CEO of Orca Energy said, “Despite the challenging macro backdrop, we are very pleased with Orca’s performance in the first six months of 2020. We are well placed to finance and deliver a numeral of vital capital projects, which are critical to sustaining gas production in Tanzania through to the end of the license period”.

Orca also plans to work over the SS-10 onshore well in early 2021 and may also carry out remedial work on the SS-3 and SS-4 wells, which will be confirmed after the company does a review of the Songo Songo gas field, set to be completed by the end of 2020. The review will also assess the economics of drilling and developing gas in the Songo Songo North and Songo Songo West areas.