Sasol started drilling for hydrocarbons in blocks 16 and 19 offshore Mozambique in partnership with Malaysia’s Petronas earlier this month, the petrochemicals group said on Friday.
Sasol, the world’s biggest maker of diesel from coal, will act as operator of the joint venture consortium, said Sasol group general manager Lean Strauss.
Fifty percent of the equity in Blocks 16 and 19 will be held by Sasol’s unit, Sasol Petroleum International (SPI), while Petronas Carigali Mozambique will hold 35%.
The government of Mozambique and its national oil company, Empresa Nacional De Hidrocarbonetos De Mozambique, will hold the remaining 15%.
Besides extensive holdings onshore in Mozambique, where Sasol operates the Pande and Temane gas fields and has access to Block A, SPI has increasing its international footprint.
It recently obtained a 51% working interest in four hydrocarbon prospecting licences in the ”foreland” area of Papua New Guinea. An offshore exploration licence has also been secured recently off the north-west shelf of Australia. — Reuters