Petronas, is calling for tenders to select a company to conduct a study to find a suitable drilling site in its concession in the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of Cabo Delgado Province in northern Mozambique.
Petronas Carigali, the Malaysian state-owned corporation's exploration and production subsidiary, has gathered and processed 2D seismic data covering an area of 7,000 square kilometres and these data need to be interpreted to locate the best spot to drill for oil and gas.
In 2008, the Mozambican government awarded a licence to a Petronas Carigali-led joint venture to carry out drilling in two blocks (Area 3 and Area 6) in the Rovuma Basin, for US$40.6 million. The Mozambican state is represented in the joint-venture by the Mozambican National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH), with a 10 per cent stake.
In recent years, several companies have invested heavily in the search for oil and gas in Mozambique. Between 2009 and 2010, a total of US$370 million was spent on prospecting by various companies in the Rovuma Basin.
The biggest investment has been by the Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, which has found large quantities of natural gas. By 2013 it will have invested US$3.0 billion in the Rovuma Basin.
If it goes ahead with a plan to develop a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, its total investment in Mozambique will reach US$18 billion by 2018.
