Maputo, Mozambique, 10 March – Four oil companies from Canada, the United States, Malaysia and Italy have been granted a license for oil prospecting in the Rovuma basin, in northern Mozambique, Mozambique’s Mineral resources Minister, Esperança Bias said Thursday in Maputo.

The Rovuma basin covers an area of 60,000 square kilometers in the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula.

Due to its size the Mozambique government decided to divide it into seven areas, two of which (blocs 2 and 5) have already been granted to Norway’s Norsk Hydro, after a contract was signed in February.

The four winning companies – Canada’s Artumas, US company Anadarko, Italy’s and Petronas from Malaysia – have now been granted the remaining five areas, most of which are offshore.

The proposals presented by three other companies, Norsk Hydro, South Africa’s Rockover and Brazil’s Petrobras, were rejected.

Overall, the four chosen companies are expected to invest US$300 million and to drill 8 wells in the five blocs. (macauhub)