Mozambique Launching Fifth Licensing Round for Major Hydrocarbon Blocks

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Johannesburg, South Africa)--Mozambique's National Petroleum Institute (INP) announced that it will launch the country's fifth licensing round for the exploration of hydrocarbons on October 23. The tender will be officially launched in the U.K. at London's Hilton Hotel and will be closed on January 20, 2015.

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A total of 15 blocks will be available offshore in the Rovuma Basin, the Zambezi Delta, and off the coast of Angoche in the Nampula province. There also are onshore blocks available at Pande-Temane and Palmeira in the south of the country. The area covered by the block totals 76,800 square kilometers.

Massive reserves of natural gas already have been found in offshore areas 1 and 4 of the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado. Anadarko (NYSE:APC) (The Woodlands, Texas) and ENI SpA (NYSE:E) (Rome, Italy) have discovered 200 trillion cubic feet of gas to date.

The Pande and Temane fields in the Inhambane province, holding 3.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, already are being exploited by the South African synfuel and petrochemical major Sasol (NYSE:SSL) (Johannesburg, South Africa). The company is constructing the $135 million Temane natural gas processing plant.

It is believed that there could be more gas reserves in blocks near the Sasol concession areas. To date, only a small part of the country's sedimentary basins have been prospected.

The Rovuma Basin covers 17,000 square kilometers onshore and a further 12,500 square kilometers offshore. The Mozambique Basin stretches from the Zambezi delta to the border with South Africa and covers an area of 500,000 square kilometers.

For related information, see May 12, 2014, article - East Africa Could Take Leading Role in Oil and Gas Infrastructure Development.

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