Italian oil company Eni is still planning to open at least one oil exploration hole later this year or natural gas in Area A5-A, under concession as part of the 5th tender launched by the Mozambican government.

A source from the National Petroleum Institute (INP) guaranteed that under the program agreed with the government, the first borehole is expected to be drilled in the last quarter of this year or early next year.

The firm said that despite the adverse effects of Covid-19, it has not yet informed the government of any intention to change the program. In fact, according to "Notícias", Eni currently has a research platform that is working on the Coral Sul project.

The platform, according to Eni's initial plans, should remain in Mozambique until December.

It should be noted that as part of the implementation of the Strategy for the Concession of Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production Areas, INP launched on October 23, 2014 the 5th tender for the concession of areas for hydrocarbon exploration and production.

In the competition, 11 areas were made available to the bidders at sea (in the Rovuma, Angoche, and Mozambique "Zambezi Delta" Basins), and four on land (in the Mozambique "Pande/Temane and Palmeiras areas"), covering a total of 74,259 square kilometers.

In the framework of the bids received, Eni Mozambico S.p. was considered the winner of the Areas.A, for Area A5-A, located in Angoche Basin; ExxonMobil E&P Mozambique Offshore Ltd, for Area A 5-B, located in Angoche Basin and the Areas Z5-C and Z5-D, located in Zambezi Basin; Sasol Petroleum Mozambique Exploration Ltd, for Area PT5-C in Pande and Temane; and Delonex Energy Ltd, for Area P5-A, in Palmeira, Manhiça district, Maputo province, the latter having later withdrawn from the tender.

After years of negotiations aimed at improving some legislative aspects, especially in the petroleum sector, in 2018 the government and the concessionaires signed their respective concession contracts with an exploration period valid for about eight years subdivided into three exploration sub-periods.

Initial estimates indicated that the signing of these contracts could lead to investments amounting to approximately 700 million US dollars.