“After evaluating 23 applications, the INP has decided to award three areas to Rosneft and ExxonMobil: area A5-B in the Angoche Basin and areas Z5-C and Z5-D in the Zambezi Delta. The prospectivity assessment of these license areas conducted by the two companies’ geological divisions has confirmed their exploration potential,” the company said in a press release.
Upon receiving the award, the companies will discuss the details of their participation with the Government of Mozambique and the INP, after which ExxonMobil will be declared project operator.
Mozambique’s oil and gas sector has significant development potential. In 2010 and 2011, several large offshore gas fields were discovered there. The country’s largest gas deposits are located in the Rovuma Basin, where gas resources have been estimated at up to 2.2 trillion cubic meters (TCM) and in the Mozambique Basin, with three onshore gas fields with proven reserves of up to 95 billion cubic meters (BCM) and one offshore gas field with resources of up to 56 BCM. US Geological Survey has estimated the volume of technically recoverable resources in the Mozambique Coastal Province at 11.7 billion barrels of conventional oil (BBO), 182 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (TCFG) and 5.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids (BBNGL).
