From Eglinton Oil to Tanzania’s first exploration drills
Every oak begins as an acorn. For Aminex, the acorn was planted long before Tanzania became the focus of attention. The story starts in the late 1970s with Eglinton Oil & Gas, later reorganised as Aminex PLC in 1991. For years the company roamed widely — taking positions in the USA, Russia, Egypt, New Zealand, even Pakistan. It was a restless, globe-trotting junior explorer, chasing opportunities where it could.
But 2002 marked a turning point. That year Aminex acquired Tanzoil NL and with it a small Tanzanian subsidiary called Ndovu Resources Ltd. Overnight, Aminex had a new frontier: licences stretching over the Nyuni area offshore and the unexplored Ruvuma basin onshore. Few in London had ever heard of Songo Songo Island or Lindi, but Aminex saw potential.
The following year, 2003, the company drilled its first Tanzanian well, Nyuni-1. It wasn’t a commercial producer, but it did something more important: it proved there was gas in the system. For a frontier explorer, that’s the first brick in the wall.
From there, the company pressed on. By 2006, seismic surveys were underway across Nyuni and Ruvuma, partly funded by partners like Hardman Resources. Farm-outs became a survival tactic: Aminex would shoulder the early risk, then bring in bigger players to help pay for the next stage. It kept the show on the road, but at the cost of giving up slices of the prize.
The next big test came in 2010, when the Likonde-1 exploration well was drilled in the Lindi licence as part of the Ruvuma PSA. This was a high-stakes venture with Tullow and Solo as partners. The well cut through more than 250 metres of sandstone with oil and gas shows — geological success on paper. But high-pressure gas influxes forced the operation to be abandoned before reaching its deepest targets.
For investors, it was another let-down. No commercial flow, no revenue. For the geologists, it was confirmation: hydrocarbons were there, just waiting to be unlocked.
By the close of this first chapter, Aminex had transformed itself. It was no longer just a wandering junior with scattered assets. It was a company with its feet planted firmly in Tanzanian soil — a country that would define its future. Two early wells, Nyuni-1 and Likonde-1, had both proven hydrocarbons but offered no immediate payday.
Still, the conviction had set in: there was a commercial gas story here, waiting for the right drill and the right timing.
➡️ Next time: Chapter Two — Nyuni & Kiliwani Discovery. We follow Aminex as the company moves closer to the breakthrough that would prove Tanzanian gas could finally flow at scale.