Qatari oil and gas company Qatar Petroleum has signed a farm-in deal with ExxonMobil to acquire a 10 percent stake in three offshore exploration blocks in the Angoche and Zambezi basins in the Republic of Mozambique, marking the company’s entry into Mozambique.
Subject to regulatory approvals being obtained, the consortium operating the offshore assets will be made up 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.
Commenting on this occasion, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, and President & CEO of Qatar Petroleum said: “We are pleased to sign this agreement, with our long-time partner ExxonMobil to participate in exploring these frontier offshore basins in the Republic of Mozambique. This is a milestone for Qatar Petroleum as it marks its first foray into Mozambique’s promising offshore basins”.
Al-Kaabi added: “We hope that the exploration efforts, which will commence soon, will be successful, and we look forward to collaborating with ExxonMobil, Rosneft and ENH on this opportunity. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Mozambican authorities and our partners in these blocks for their support”.
Al-Kaabi added: “This signature is very much in line with our growth strategy in Qatar Petroleum with a new country entry to prospective frontier basins with significant hydrocarbon resource potential”.
Al-Kaabi last week led Qatar’s last delegation to the meetings of OPEC, following Qatar’s announcement last Monday on withdrawing its membership in the organization.
OPEC+ nations on Friday agreed on output cuts.