Russian oil giant Rosneft announced it has signed a cooperation agreement with the National Petroleum Institute (Instituto Nacional de Petróleo, INP) and a memorandum with Mozambique's state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos on Thursday to develop natural gas fields in Mozambique.
Rosneft said it will be granted the right to study available geological data to examine the potential of a number of onshore and offshore blocks in the east African country, with the opportunity to enter projects on those blocks in the future.
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said, “Mozambique is one of the perspective areas of the Rosneft’s international business. We are keen on further expanding the project portfolio in the country. I sincerely hope that the agreements signed today will contribute to that.”
Mozambique is a major hydrocarbons exporter. In the last decade, the country's gas output has increased by 1.5 times and its consumption by 13 times, according to Rosneft.
In 2015, subsidiaries of Rosneft and ExxonMobil were declared winners for three blocks in the fifth license round organized by INP: A5-B in the Angoche Basin, and Z5-C and Z5-D in the Zambezi Delta.
In October 2018, the consortium where Rosneft holds 20% signed concession agreements for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons on the three areas with the Government of Mozambique, and the companies started exploration works.
