ExxonMobil, Rosneft big winners in Mozambique Fifth Licensing Round

N-Exploration (100% Rosneft subsidiary) and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Mozambique Offshore have been awarded 3 blocks in the fifth licence round organized by the Republic of Mozambique Institute of National Petroleum (Instituto Nacional de Petróleo).

This is out of a total of fifteen areas including from within offshore Rovuma, offshore Angoche, offshore Zambezi, onshore Pande-Temane and onshore Palmeira covering approx. 74,259 sq kms although bids were received for eight of the fifteen areas on offer.

Of these eight applications Institute of National Petroleum (Instituto Nacional de Petróleo) only awarded six contract areas.

The three blocks in discussion that have been awarded to the consortium with ExxonMobil as an operator include A5-B in the Angoche Basin and Z5-C and Z5-D in the Zambezi Delta.

Other companies which have been awarded areas as operators include Eni which won Angoche  Area A5-A, Sasol Petroleum for Pande/Temane Area PT5-C and Delonex Energy Ltd which got Palmeira Area P5-A.

Mozambique 5th round

Mozambique 5th round 2

MozambiqueThe First Period of Exploration over the following 4 years will see these companies spend over 691 Million USD, drilling a minimum of 10 wells (8 in deep water), acquisition of over 3,000 km of 2D seismic, acquisition of over 18,400 km2 of 3D seismic (some potentially linked to new multi-client programs), 10,000 km2 of FTG (Full Tensor Gravity), high resolution magnetics programs and other geotechnical studies.

Speaking after the announcement Rosneft termed the awarding of the three licenses as ‘a serious achievement for Rosneft and ExxonMobil.’

“The consortium’s bid was awarded the blocks despite facing strong competition from other global supermajors. The participation in exploration and development projects in Mozambique is a new focus area of Rosneft’s international strategy: the Company promotes its positioning in regions of significant hydrocarbon potential. These projects allow Rosneft to obtain access to high-quality assets, while minimizing the risks in the implementation of frontier exploration projects by partnering with global industry leaders.”

Upon evaluation of the bids the Operator lead groups will commence negotiations with the Government of the Republic of Mozambique and INP for an Exploration Production Concession Contract.

‘The Angoche area is a very promising frontier basin with significant oil potential and builds on Statoil’s exploration strategy of access at scale,’ says Nick Maden, senior vice president for Statoil’s exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere.

The fifth round commenced on the 23rd October 2014 and companies had nine months to evaluate the available technical data and formulate their applications. The round followed a competitive bid process that evaluated the bids on defined published criteria which included Health Safety and Environmental (HSE), financial strength, technical competence / capability and the Economic terms offered to the Mozambican State.

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