5 November 2010 (Source: Bloomberg)

Orca Exploration Group Inc., the largest natural-gas supplier in East Africa, plans to more than double output from its Songo Songo project off Tanzania’s east coast within 2 1/2 years.

Production should rise to 200 million cubic feet a day from 90 million cubic feet currently, Peter Clutterbuck, deputy chairman of the Dar es Salaam-based company, told the Africa Upstream oil conference in Cape Town today.

Orca plans to drill for gas in the Songo Songo West field late next year, Clutterbuck said. The field may contain 500 billion cubic feet of reserves, while the main field has about 900 billion cubic feet, he said.

– by Mike Cohen