The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy expressed optimism this Thursday, 29 August, about the results of the oil surveys in an area formally awarded today to a consortium made up of Italian multinational Eni and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH).
‘We are optimistic about the results of prospecting in the concession area,’ said Carlos Zacarias, after the signing of the concession contract for oil exploration and production in the Angoche sedimentary basin, northern Mozambique, between the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, Eni and ENH.
According to Lusa, quoting the minister, the results of the preliminary studies carried out in the Angoche sedimentary basin that have so far been achieved raise expectations regarding the operations that the consortium will carry out.
Carlos Zacarias said that gauging the commercial quantities of existing resources will depend on the quality of the concessionaires’ complementary surveys in Area A6-C, in the Angoche sedimentary basin, in Nampula province.
The source called for the use of technologies with the least possible impact on the environment, to allow oil operations to coexist with other economic activities in a sustainable way, such as fishing and tourism, and for compliance with the law.
Carlos Zacarias
‘We recommend that they comply with the work programme established in the concession contracts, always obeying the oil and related legislation in force, particularly environmental legislation,’ he said.
He pointed out that the oil operations that will be carried out there by Eni and ENH will create jobs, social projects for the communities in the area affected by the concession, business opportunities and generate revenue for the state.
Eni’s director in Mozambique, Marica Calabrese, considered carrying out research operations in the area now awarded to be an important milestone in the Italian multinational’s presence in the country.
‘Eni believes strongly in this country. This will be the start of another success,’ said Marica Calabrese, recalling that the Italian oil company began operations in Mozambique in 2006, exploring for natural gas in Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin, in the north of the country, and then with the start of the first production project in that region, Coral Sul. ‘After the success of Coral South, we are ready to launch Coral North, also in the Rovuma Basin,’ he said.
The exploration concession contracts signed today are the result of the sixth hydrocarbon exploration and production concession tender, launched in 2021.
On Wednesday (27), the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy said in a statement that the Rovuma LNG consortium, led by US oil company ExxonMobil, had begun the basic engineering phase in Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin, to explore for natural gas.
‘This phase, which is expected to last approximately 16 months, represents the last stage before the final investment decision is made,’ the statement said.
Mozambique has the third largest natural gas reserves in Africa. The country currently has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified as one of the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado.
Two of these projects are larger in scale and involve channelling the gas from the seabed to land, cooling it in a factory and 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 an 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, onshore), with the Italian oil company having another offshore site that is already practically in full production.
