The Government will launch, this Thursday, a new tender for the concession of 16 areas for oil and gas exploration and production, in order to meet the needs of energy transition using 'cleaner' energies, such as natural gas.

According to the President of the Board of Directors (PCA) of the National Petroleum Institute (INP), Carlos Zacarias, the new areas of oil and gas exploration and production are intended to contribute to new approaches to developing the sector in the country.

"We intend with this tender to evaluate the petroleum potential of our country, and the discovered resources will be made available to society, to boost Mozambique's socio-economic development," he said.

Besides boosting development, Carlos Zacarias stressed that the objective of launching these new areas is also to promote national and foreign investment, besides reducing the time between tenders for the concession of areas, from three to two years.

In a communiqué, the government guarantees that the process will seek oil companies interested in the areas distributed over four distinct regions: five are located in the Rovuma basin, seven in Angoche, two in the Zambezi Delta, and two in Save, totaling more than 92,000 square kilometers.

Meanwhile, Mozambique still has areas allocated under the fifth tender whose prospecting is waiting to begin.