The Mozambican government and the consortia that were selected in the fifth oil prospecting tender are due to sign their contracts by the first week of October, said the president of the country’s National Oil Institute.

Carlos Zacarias, president of the sector’s regulatory body, told Portuguese news agency Lusa that the contracts will be signed between the end of September and the first week of October, “with precise dates yet to be analysed.”

In August the Mozambican Cabinet approved the terms of oil prospecting contracts for five concessions in central and northern Mozambique.

In 2015, three blocks were allocated to the ExxonMobil (60%) and Rosneft (20%) consortium, one in the Angoche basin and the other two in the Zambezi basin in central Mozambique.

At the same time, a fourth block was allocated to the consortium made up of Italian group ENI (34%), Sasol Petroleum (25.5%) of South Africa and Statoil (25.5%) from Norway.

Mozambican state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), which was awarded an onshore block, holds a 20% stake in all four other blocks. (macauhub)