Madagascar to Launch Licensing Round

Madagascar's state Office of Mines and Strategic Industries (Omnis) said last week it is to launch a licensing round in two months' time.

Omnis, in partnership with geoscience firms TGS and BGP, announced September 12 that the licensing round in Madagascar will be launched at the Africa Oil Week conference on November 5-9.

It said its frontier region remains "relatively under-explored" but noted that Madagascar "shares a maritime boundary with offshore Mozambique where large quantities of natural gas have been discovered. Studies conducted in collaboration with TGS and BGP have resulted in new data that suggest there is significant potential for future discoveries both on and offshore." 

Omnis general manager Voahangy Nirina Radarson said: "We are working together with TGS and BGP to create an attractive environment for exploration in the offshore, and we are confident that this will signal the start of renewed investment for the upstream oil sector in Madagascar." But no additional information was given regarding the blocks to be offered. In October 2016, Omnis delayed the launch of a call for tenders for 40 concessions, the country's biggest licensing round, as the country's new petroleum code had not entered into force. That remains the case, and 225 blocks remain unexplored. 

ExxonMobil, BG Group (now Shell) and South Korea's SK Corp in 2006 were partners in the deepwater Majunga Offshore Profond exploration block off Madagascar, extended in 2013; but they relinquished the block in 2016. Exxon and another partner Sterling Resources also handed back other offshore Madagascan licences at about the same time.