6 December 2007
Maputo — Mozambique's National Petroleum Institute (INP) believes hat the geological characteristics of central Mozambique suggest that the rock formations here contain hydrocarbons.
Speaking at a press conference in Maputo to mark Mozambique's third international oil exploration tender, Carlos Zacarias, of the INP Project Department, said the geological similarities with other parts of the world where oil has been found, suggests that there may well be oil in the Mozambican subsoil.
The tender was launched simultaneously at the Ministry of Mineral Resources in Maputo, and in London. On offer is a total area of 61,000 square kilometres, from the northern part of Inhambane province, to the central part of Zambezia province.
It has been divided into nine blocks - two of them onshore, and seven offshore. Of the offshore blocks, two are in shallow water, and five in deep water.
The two onshore blocks are in Inhambane, near the known fields of natural gas at Temane, which are exploited by the South African petrochemical giant SASOL. It is often, but not always, the case that where there is natural gas, there is also oil.
Zacarias said companies interested in exploring in these blocks should submit their proposals by June 2008. A technical commission would then work on the proposals and announce the final results within two months.
The companies concerned, he said, should be both financially robust and demonstrate technical capacity to undertake oil exploration.
As for the environmental impact of oil companies, Zacarias stressed that winners of the tender would be obliged to comply with Mozambican environmental legislation, which seeks to guarantee the minimum possible damage to the environment.
The main area of current oil exploration is in the far north, in the Rovuma Basin, on the border with Tanzania, where blocks have been allocated to four companies - Anadarko, of the United states, Artumas of Canada, ENI of Italy, and Norsk-Hydro of Norway.
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