Eni’s subsidiary, Eni Mozambico, has farmed-blocks A5-B, Z5-C and Z5-D offshore Mozambique with a 10 percent working interest. The agreement was signed with blocks operator and majority stakeholder, ExxonMobil Moçambique Exploration & Production.
The operation takes place under the country’s 5th Licensing Round. Other stakeholders include ExxonMobil with s 40 percent working interest, Mozambican State company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) at 20 percent, Russia’s Rosneft at 20 percent and Qatar Petroleum with 10 percent.
Block A5-B, located in the Angoche Basin, 1,300 km north-east of the capital Maputo, comprises a 6,080km2 acreage reaching depths between 1,800m and 2,500m.
Adjacent blocks Z5-C and Z5-D cover a total area of over 10,000km2 in the Zambesi Basin, situated 800km north-east of Maputo. The zone comprising both blocks is relatively under-explored with depths ranging from 500m to 2,100m.
The operating license for block A5-A, adjacent to block A5-B in the Angoche Basin, was previously acquired by Eni Mozambico during the same licensing round. Qatar Petroleum signed an agreement for a 25,5 percent stake in the block, which is currently under review by state authorities.
Successful license acquirements for Eni during this round allow the company to extend its acreage in prospective eastern Africa waters. In the country, Eni is part of the Mozambique Rovuma Venture S.p.A, operating the Rovuma LNG project which will produce, liquefy and market natural gas from three reservoirs of the Mamba complex.