Mozambique: Oil in Rovuma Basin - Guebuza Urges Citizens to Remain Calm
17 August 2010
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Windhoek — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Tuesday urged all Mozambicans to remain calm following the news reporting the discovery of oil in the Rovuma Basin, in the northern region of the country.
Guebuza, who was speaking to Mozambican reporters in Windhoek, the Namibian capital, on the sidelines of the just ended 30th Ordinary Summit of Heads of States and Governments of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), said that Mozambicans must remain calm and wait for more detailed information on these findings.
"The first thing I would like to say is to advise people to remain calm until we have more information on the discovery," said Guebuza.
According to Guebuza, even if oil is found in commercially viable amounts, people should never set aside other means of livelihood, such as agriculture.
On Monday, Mozambique's Minister of Mineral Resources, Esperanca Bias, announced in Maputo that the US oil company Anadarko has found oil deposits in the Rovuma Basin.
Bias, who was speaking during a press conference, explained that it is still a technical presence of oil, because there is still a long way to go for the evaluation of its commercial viability.
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Oil was found at a depth of 5100 meters, with the Minister claiming that it is the first time that oil was found off shore in the East African region.
In 2006, Anadarko signed a contract with the Mozambican government for the drilling of six exploratory wells in the Rovuma Basin.
Last February, Anadarko announced that the Windjammer exploratory well, off the coast of Cabo Delgado province, encountered more than 480 net feet of natural gas pay in high-quality reservoir sands, with a gross column of more than 1,200 feet.
Apart from Anadarko there are another three companies prospecting hydrocarbons in the Rovuma basin, including ENI from Italy, Petronas (Malaysia) and Statoil (Norway).
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