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30th September 2026
Aminex's 2026 AGM presentation has provided the clearest explanation yet for the substantial reshaping of the Ntorya drilling programme announced during September.
Most importantly, the presentation confirms that NT-Central, which will be drilled as NT-3, corresponds to the location previously identified as NT-8 in Aminex's 2025 development maps. That matters because NT-8 was not originally part of the immediate development programme. It sat within the later phased development of the field and, geographically, occupies a central position within one of the strongest areas identified by the 3D seismic work.
The new presentation goes considerably further. APT's latest interpretation divides the field into western, central and eastern appraisal/development segments, together with the existing NT-1/NT-2 area and the peripheral Chikumbi area. The central segment is now identified as containing the greatest potential, providing a clear geological explanation for why NT-3 has been brought forward ahead of CH-1.
Map Thanks to Aminex PLC/APT
NT-8 Has Become NT-3
NT-8 Has Become NT-3
The comparison with last year's AGM presentation is particularly revealing.
In July 2025, Aminex showed NT-8 as one of the proposed wells within the later development of Ntorya. The same map showed the original NT-3 location further south-east and CH-1 on the southern edge of the field.
The new 2026 map now places NT-Central directly at the earlier NT-8 position, with that target to be spudded as NT-3. The presentation separately states that NT-3 was previously planned for a later phase but has now been accelerated into the immediate programme.
This therefore appears to be more than a simple renaming exercise. The revised programme has deliberately pulled a central development target forward from the later field-development sequence.
Aminex also states explicitly why. The operator considers the NT-3 target to carry lower geological risk than CH-1.
Three New Appraisal Targets Across the Field
Three New Appraisal Targets Across the Field
The presentation also gives much greater meaning to the names NT-West and NT-East.
The new APT map places NT-West in the western segment, NT-Central in the central segment and NT-East in the eastern segment. The underlying labels show the new targets corresponding approximately with the previously mapped NT-10, NT-8 and NT-5 areas respectively.
That arrangement makes the logic of the new drilling sequence much clearer.
Rather than simply drilling a series of production wells around the existing NT-1 and NT-2 area, the programme now has the ability to test three different parts of the broader accumulation.
APT's deterministic segment estimates assign approximately:
Western segment: 525 Bcf
Central segment: 1,060 Bcf
Eastern segment: 429 Bcf
Chikumbi area: 81 Bcf
The presentation specifically says the central segment contains the greatest potential and that the NT-C location is preferred over CH-1. NT-West and NT-East will then be considered depending upon the results obtained from NT-3.
This substantially strengthens the rationale behind September's revised programme. Bringing NT-3 forward does not simply substitute one drilling location for another. It places the first new well directly into the part of the current model that APT believes offers the greatest potential.
Why CH-1 Has Moved Back
Why CH-1 Has Moved Back
The treatment of CH-1 in the presentation is also revealing.
Only last year, CH-1 formed part of the original initial production phase alongside NT-1 and NT-2. The 2025 presentation showed the initial phase providing up to 60 MMscf/d before subsequent wells raised production towards 140 MMscf/d and potentially 280 MMscf/d.
The new programme changes that priority.
Aminex now says NT-3 offers a lower-risk geological target than CH-1. Subject to NT-3 results, NT-East and NT-West are also planned to be drilled ahead of CH-1.
The 2026 segmentation map helps explain why. CH-1 sits away from the three principal western, central and eastern appraisal targets, while the new wells are positioned across the larger mapped accumulation.
CH-1 has not disappeared. It remains part of the programme and remains an obligatory well under the development arrangements. But geologically it is no longer being treated as the most attractive immediate opportunity.
December Remains the Critical Near-Term Target
December Remains the Critical Near-Term Target
For all the additional geological detail, the immediate operational programme remains unchanged from the September update.
Aminex confirms:
October 2026: preliminary NT-1 wellhead maintenance and slickline operations.
November 2026: NT-2 well testing.
December 2026: NT-3 spud.
December 2026: targeted first gas from NT-2.
There is also evidence that the programme is moving beyond planning.
Pipelaying and backfilling on the Ntorya-Madimba pipeline is reported as 95% complete, with connection and metering work continuing. Land rights for the NT-3 wellsite and access roads have been secured and civil works have started. The GPU contract is being finalised for December mobilisation, while the rig contract is expected to be signed in October ahead of the December NT-3 spud.
For investors seeking visible evidence of execution rather than further statements of intent, the next three months therefore provide a succession of measurable milestones.
The Resource Estimate Has Changed, But So Has the Method
The Resource Estimate Has Changed, But So Has the Method
One figure in the presentation requires particularly careful interpretation.
APT's previous 2024/2025 modelling produced a P50 estimate of approximately 3.45 Tcf GIIP, with a P90 of 1.99 Tcf and P10 of 4.70 Tcf.
The new 2026 methodology gives:
P90: 543 Bcf
P50: 2.57 Tcf
P10: 3.97 Tcf
Taken in isolation, those figures could appear to represent a significant resource reduction. Aminex makes clear, however, that this is not a like-for-like comparison.
The earlier estimate used a whole-field geological model derived from seismic inversion. The new 2026 estimate uses deterministic confidence polygons built around a gross reservoir-thickness map. Aminex explicitly describes the new methodology as more cautious and states that the two volume sets represent different approaches to estimation. Both remain extrapolations from the NT-1 and NT-2 well results across the wider field.
That distinction is important.
The very low 543 Bcf P90 case is deliberately centred much more tightly around the already drilled area, while the 2.57 Tcf base case extends across the wider confidence polygon. The high case reaches 3.97 Tcf.
The new numbers therefore refine the degree of confidence assigned to different parts of the field rather than simply replacing the previous estimate with a directly comparable lower number.
The 60, 140 and 280 MMscf/d Development Remains
The 60, 140 and 280 MMscf/d Development Remains
Perhaps the strongest evidence that Aminex does not regard the new modelling as undermining the development case is the production profile itself.
The presentation continues to describe Ntorya as initially ramping towards 60 MMscf/d, followed by phased growth towards 140 MMscf/d, with the potential ultimately to reach 280 MMscf/d.
The production slide is explicitly headed:
“Little change - Phased Development Maintained.”
The new modelling shows that the duration for which the highest production levels can be sustained varies according to the resource case, but the underlying development architecture remains intact.
This is an important distinction from interpreting the 2.57 Tcf P50 figure as a straightforward downgrade to the commercial development.
The Dispute Remains Until Delivery
The Dispute Remains Until Delivery
The presentation also clarifies Aminex's position following the dispute with APT.
Aminex says the Notice of Dispute was issued on 21 August to protect its contractual rights, the agreed Ntorya development programme and shareholder interests. Following intervention involving Tanzania's Ministry of Energy, TPDC and PURA, the parties agreed the revised programme now being implemented.
However, Aminex has not simply closed the matter because a new timetable has been agreed.
The presentation states plainly:
“The dispute will be resolved when there is delivery of the revised programme.”
That is arguably one of the more important governance messages in the presentation. Aminex has accepted the revised development sequence, but it is retaining the protection created by the dispute process until the operator delivers the milestones against which performance can now be measured.
Aminex Is Already Preparing for Life Beyond First Gas
Aminex Is Already Preparing for Life Beyond First Gas
The final section of the presentation also provides a clearer indication of how the Board sees Aminex developing once Ntorya begins generating sustainable cash flow.
Aminex says it has reduced its workforce and executive structure, replaced some remuneration with share options, eliminated its physical office and moved to a fully virtual structure. It remains debt free and says more than $28 million of the farm-out carry remains available.
The longer-term objective is described more expansively than in previous presentations.
Successful development of Ntorya is intended to create a financially sustainable Aminex with greater strategic and financial flexibility, the ability to determine its own direction and the capacity to deploy capital selectively into new opportunities. The company describes its ambition as becoming an independent energy company able to pursue opportunities selectively as markets and access to resources evolve.
That is an important development in the corporate story. Ntorya remains overwhelmingly the immediate priority, but management is increasingly describing first gas not as the end point, but as the event that could restore Aminex's ability to determine what comes next.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The 2026 AGM presentation provides something shareholders did not have when the revised programme first appeared in September: the geological reasoning behind it.
NT-Central is the former NT-8 target. It lies in the central segment of the field, which APT's current deterministic modelling identifies as containing the greatest gas-in-place potential. NT-West and NT-East extend the appraisal programme into the western and eastern segments, while CH-1 has moved behind those targets because the operator considers NT-3 the lower-risk and more attractive immediate location.
At the same time, the presentation retains the established phased production ambition of 60, 140 and potentially 280 MMscf/d, despite adopting a more conservative methodology for the latest GIIP estimates.
The immediate investment case now turns increasingly on execution rather than interpretation. October brings the expected rig contract and NT-1 preliminary work. November brings NT-2 testing. December is intended to bring both first gas and the NT-3 spud.
For Aminex, the significance of the AGM presentation is therefore not simply that the drilling programme has become larger. It is that investors can now see why those particular wells have been prioritised and what APT intends them to establish about the structure and scale of Ntorya.
Sources:
Sources:
Aminex PLC, 2026 Annual General Meeting Presentation, 30 September 2026
Official 2026 AGM presentation
Aminex PLC, 2025 Annual General Meeting Presentation, 24 July 2025
Official 2025 AGM presentation
Contributing Author: Andrew Eldridge
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