Zim Gas buoyant | Business Times

STAFF WRITER

Gas exploration company, Zim Gas, is optimistic that it would successfully drill at least 10 wells  in Zimbabwe’s Western region confident, beginning in the first quarter of next year, Business Times can report.

The project, according to the company executives, has  garnered huge interest from corporates including cash-rich diversified conglomerate, Innscor Africa Limited and one of leading retailers in Zimbabwe, Pick n Pay TM Supermarkets.

The majority of businesses have indicated interest in having dedicated wells.

The interest in dedicated gas wells stems from the fact that many Zimbabwean businesses are currently suffering from crippling load-shedding that lasts for almost 12 hours every day.

John Chingonzoh, the company’s leading shareholder, stated that Zim Gas was finalising processes and  now targeting to start drilling in the first quarter of next year.

“In terms of exploration mining pertaining to coal bed mining, Zim Gas and its partners in Zimbabwe as well as South Africa we are finalising the  processes and will start drilling in the first quarter of 2025  In the initial two years of operation, we are targeting to drill at least 10 wells,” Chingonzoh said.

He added: “We have done enough sector profiling globally and we believe we have possessed relevant systems  and structures able to tackle the coal bed methane gas in the Western part of Zimbabwe.

“The coal bed methane gas requires special skills and must be done at an appropriate scale to be successful.

As you may be aware, the trend has been that companies or prospective drillers with small capital have attempted to do this process but end up doing not more than two or three wells because of the process involved in the mining of coal bed methane gas.

“So, we are coming at this stage as Zim Gas aware that small capital will not take us anywhere.

“And therefore, we have a model which is going to facilitate a sustainable extraction or mining of coal bed methane gas.

“We have a system which will enable us to mine gas from fields across various fields in Zimbabwe.

 We will have a commercialised model that will make us compatible with global financial markets. And that is very important, because this is where most prospective drillers fail.”

Chingonzoh said the project has generated enormous interest from potential investors. Zim Gas will next week launch its prospectus, which is expected to be over subscribed.

“We are happy in terms of developing this model, which has attracted mostly institutional investors, the likes of pension funds on the international stage and corporates on the local stage. Some corporates are coming in as uptakers as well as investors and therefore that guarantees a solid base of capital on which we intend to operate on.

“We are happy with such a mix that has already created investor vibe around this coal bed methane gas, which Zim Gas is embarking on.

And we are confident that we are going to succeed.”

Dr Khumbulani Mhlope, a shareholder at SEDI, which is a market maker for ZimGas weighed in saying: “We have managed to mobilise that kind of capital to drill those 10 wells inside two  years.

“Many investors have expressed huge interest in this (project). The prospectus we are launching next week is likely to be over subscribed.”

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