The National Petroleum Institute (INP) has revealed that four more wells will be drilled this year in the country for hydrocarbon research and prospecting, pointing out that two will be drilled in the Angoche region, one in the Búzi area and another in the PT5-C area, operated by the petrochemical company Sasol, in the provinces of Nampula, Sofala and Inhambane, respectively.
According to a source mentioned by the newspaper Noticias, this will be the second time in almost a year that drilling has been carried out in Angoche, recalling that last year the Italian oil company Eni drilled a hole which had negative results, but which it was later concluded should be evaluated again.
“As for the area operated by Eni, complementary studies are underway by the operator, who has already expressed an interest in extending the time for activities in order to complete the work programme, so that in the coming months there will be conclusive data on the potential of that area,” he explained.
With regard to the Búzi block, two boreholes have been drilled in recent years and the operator continues to evaluate the discovery of natural gas in that area, noting that additional studies are continuing in order to understand the commercial viability of the resource discovered.
“Therefore, after the declaration of commerciality, the company is expected to submit a project development plan to the government in order to make the commercialisation of the gas viable,” the INP indicated.
In the PT5-C area, Sasol made a discovery of natural gas in recent years in an exploration well called Bonito-1, located in the southern part of the Inhassoro district, and the company assured that it would continue with the “work of evaluating the deposit to determine its size”.
Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves of the Rovuma basin, classified as among the largest in the world, all located off the coast of Cabo Delgado province.
Two of these projects are larger and involve channelling the gas from the seabed to land, cooling it in a plant and then exporting it by sea in a liquid state.
One is led by TotalEnergies (Area 1 consortium) and work progressed until it was suspended indefinitely after the armed attack on Palma in March 2021, when the French energy company declared that it would only resume work when the area was safe. The other is the still unannounced investment led by ExxonMobil and Eni (Area 4 consortium).
A third completed, smaller project also belongs to the Area 4 consortium and consists of a floating platform for capturing and processing gas for export, directly at sea, which started up in November 2022.
