PETROLIAM Nasional Bhd (Petronas) has won bids for two exploration oil and gas blocks in Rovuma basin offshore Mozambique.

Institute of National Petroleum (INP) exploration manager Nelson Ocuane confirmed to Business Times that Petronas won bids for the two linked blocks, Area 3 and 6.

The national oil corporation beat Norsk Hydro to win the Area 3 block, while it was the sole bidder for Area 6 block.

The Mozambique Government, through its Ministry of Mineral Resources and INP, announced the winners of the bidding round to explore for hydrocarbons in the Rovuma basin last Wednesday. The results were posted on INP’s website.

The bids were launched in July last year when the Mozambique Government offered exploration licences for one onshore area and four offshore blocks, including Area 3 and 6, to interested bidders under the second Mozambique Licensing Round.

Other offshore blocks offered are Area 1 and 4, in which they were won by Anadarko of the US and ENI of Italy respectively. The onshore block, meanwhile, was won by Artumas from Canada.

According to INP, the winners of the bids have been invited to commence negotiations on the Exploration Production Concession (EPC) contract.

Awards in the auction will be formalised by next month and the EPC contract is expected to be signed at the earliest by end of May.

When the deadline for submission of proposals closed on January 31 this year, seven foreign companies including Petronas had submitted proposals to secure the licence to explore for oil in Rovuma basin.

Besides the four winners, other two companies which participated in the bid were Rockover of South Africa and Petrobras of Brazil.

Petronas first entered Mozambique’s oil and gas industry when it was awarded an EPC contract for offshore Zambezi Delta Block in June 2002, with Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos de Mozambique (ENH) as its partner.

Under the terms of the EPC, Petronas Carigali Mozambique E&P Ltd holds an 85 per cent interest in the block and ENH the rest. Petronas Carigali Mozambique is the operator for the block.

The Zambezi Delta Block, covering 9,054 sq km, is located offshore Zambezi Delta in water depth of up to 2,000m. The basin, within which the block is located, has a proven hydrocarbon system with discoveries of several onshore gas fields.
source: Business Times