Mozambique has evidence that points to the existence of reserves with oil potential, the Administrator of the Projects and Development Area of the National Petroleum Institute (INP), José Branquinho, said today.

This potential can be found both on the coast and in some of the country's inland areas. He pointed to the coast of the Rovuma Basin, in Cabo Delgado province, which despite already having some projects underway, still has potential to be explored; in the same vein, the inland areas of Pande and Temane, in Inhambane province; and the Zambezi region, along the river of the same name.

"There is evidence of the country's oil potential. If we've been holding public tenders all this time, it shows that the potential is there. The Pande region has already been largely explored and is being explored. The Rovuma Basin, which was one of the last to carry out research, has also started a research process. But there is still a lot of potential to be explored along this basin. And we have the interior basins, which were the subject of the third tender in 2008, and unfortunately at the time we didn't manage to attract many companies interested in those areas. But the potential is still there. We're talking about the lower and middle Zambezi. These are areas that still have potential. We're talking about the area further inland to Pande and Temane. There is still some potential," he said.

Speaking to Radio Mozambique As part of INP's 20th anniversary celebrations, José Branquinho said that since the 1940s, Mozambique "has already drilled around 200 wells, including exploration and production wells"

On the other hand, he said that between 2005 and the present day, INP has already held six tenders

"Over the last 20 years, during which the INP has existed, five open competitions have been held, the first in 2005. However, the tenders followed a biannual sequence, and this process was interrupted in 2009 when the law had to be revised. At that point we had to stop the licensing process and we won't have the last tender, the sixth, until 2021," he said.

He said he expected to see a massive number of companies signing up for the next concessions, as in the previous ones, "to make the country's oil potential more widely known".

"This will allow the country to reaffirm itself as a hydrocarbon producer of international standing. But it will also enable small and medium-sized enterprises in the country to play their role as providers of goods and services," he said.

The INP celebrations will take place today in Maputo City. The event will be attended by the President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi.