Russian oil producer Rosneft is looking to expand its oil and gas operations in Angola and Mozambique
The explorer said that its delegation led by Andrey Shishkin, Rosneft’s vice-president, held talks with José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Angola’s minister of petroleum; João Baptista Borges, administration of Ministry of Electricity and Water; and de Lemos José Maria Francisco, president of state-owned company Sonangol, in the west African country.
The potential scenario of Rosneft entering Angolan upstream market was discussed during the visit.
Nearly all developed fields of Angola are offshore and concentrated in Bas-Congo Basin, with the largest fields located at great depths. In recent years, following the discovery of large fields, such as Kizomba, Khikomba, Zhirasol, Jasmine, Dakhlia, Great Plutonio, the most prospective area for search of hydrocarbon reservoirs is represented by deep water and ultra deep water territory of Congo and Cuanza Basins, the company added.
According to Rosneft, Cuanza Basin ranks among the three largest explored oil and gas bearing complexes in Angola. Yet no major discoveries have been made in the Cuanza Basin, the firm added.
Simultaneously, Rosneft’s chairman Igor Sechin met Oldemiro Julio Marques Baloi, Mozambique’s minister for foreign affairs recently where the parties discussed possible involvement of the Russian explorer in production projects, Rosneft said in a separate statement.
Although Rosneft pointed to the potential of gas projects in the Rovuma Basin and in basins in the Mozambique River, as well as to current production in the Pande and Temane fields, no details of what projects it may be eyeing were revealed.
