Monday 10 December 2018

Qatar Petroleum entered into an agreement with an ExxonMobil affiliate to acquire a 10% participating interest in three offshore exploration blocks in the Angoche and Zambezi basins in the Republic of Mozambique.

The agreement is subject to customary regulatory approvals by the government of Mozambique. Following such approval, the various partners composing the consortium will be made up of affiliates of each of ExxonMobil (operator) with a 50% participating interest, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) with a 20% participating interest, Rosneft with a 20% participating interest, and Qatar Petroleum with a 10% participating interest.

The offshore blocks are A5-B which lies in the Angoche basin, and Z5-C and Z5-D, which lie in the Zambezi basin. Both basins are frontier and underexplored. The two Zambezi blocks have a total area of about 10,200 square km with water depths ranging from about 200 to 2,000 meters, while the Angoche basin block has an area of about 6,450 square km with water depths ranging from about 1,800 to 2,500 meters.

In line with its growth strategy, this opportunity provides Qatar Petroleum with a new country entry to prospective frontier basins with significant hydrocarbon resource potential.