Rosneft, Mozambique's ENH Sign Memorandum

Russia’s Rosneft and Mozambique’s state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) have signed a memorandum to develop gas fields offshore Mozambique, the Russian company said August 22.

The document was signed by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and ENH CEO Omar Mitha. The signing ceremony was held in Moscow in the presence of Russian president Vladimir Putin and President of Mozambican president Filipe Jacinto Nyusi.  

Rosneft also signed a cooperation agreement with Mozambique's National Petroleum Institute (Instituto Nacional de Petroleo, INP). The Russian firm said it will be granted the right to study available geological data on a number of onshore and offshore blocks in Mozambique in order to examine their potential; and the opportunity to enter the projects on those blocks in the future.

“Mozambique is one of the perspective areas of the Rosneft’s international business. We are keen on further expanding the project portfolio in the country. I sincerely hope that the agreements signed today will contribute to that,” Sechin said.

In late 2015, RN-Exploration (a subsidiary of Rosneft) and a subsidiary of ExxonMobil were declared winners for three blocks in the fifth license round organized by INP. Rosneft and ExxonMobil were awarded three license areas: A5-B in the Angoche Basin, and Z5-C and Z5-D in the Zambezi Delta. In October 2018, the consortium where Rosneft holds 20% signed concession agreements for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons on the three areas with the government of Mozambique, and the companies started exploration works.