Eni farms in to three exploration licenses offshore Mozambique

Italian oil and gas company Eni, through its local subsidiary, has acquired rights to explore and develop three offshore blocks in offshore Mozambique.

Eni Mozambico signed a farm-in agreement with ExxonMobil Moçambique Exploration & Production to acquire 10% stake in A5-B, Z5-C and Z5-D blocks, situated in the deep waters of Angoche and Zambezi Basins.

The acquisition, which is authorized by Mozambican authorities, further strengthens the company’s presence in Mozambique.

Located around 1,300km north-east of the Mozambican capital of Maputo at water depths of between 1,800m and 2,500m, the Block A5-B encompasses an area of around 6,080km².

The Z5-C and Z5-D blocks are situated at water depths of 500m and 2,100m and cover a total area of 10,205km². The blocks are located in an under-explored area about 800km to the north-east of the capital Maputo.

The three blocks are allocated under the 5th Licensing Round. They are operated by ExxonMobil by 40% interest. The other stakeholders are the Mozambican State company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH, 20%), Rosneft (20%) and Qatar Petroleum (10%). In the same licensing round, Eni Mozambico secured the operatorship of Block A5-A, located adjacent to block A5-B, with a 59.5% stake. Other partners in the licence are Sasol (25.5%) and ENH (15%).

Qatar Petroleum signed a farm-in agreement to acquire a 25.5% participating interest in Block A5-A from Eni. Currently, the approval from the Mozambican authorities is awaited.