Keen to take its place amongst the countries on the African continent exploiting their oil and gas resources, Zimbabwe is anticipating the imminent commencement of operations by the Australian firm Invictus Energy that will see the drilling of its first oil and gas well in the north of the country, close to the border with Mozambique.
An Invictus probe of the prospects offered by the pursuit points to an estimate of 20 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Muzarabani-Mbire area.
It has been disclosed that Invictus will commence drilling in the coming weeks. The first well, Mukuyu-1, which will be sunk to a depth of 3.5 km will reportedly cost US$16 million according to a spokesperson for the Australian company’s local subsidiary, Geo Associates. Mukuyu is part of the wider Cabora Bassa project in Zimbabwe, which is 80% owned and operated by Invictus through its interest in Geo Associates.
Setting aside Zimbabwe’s eagerly anticipated earnings from its oil and gas bonanza the country’s power infrastructure will reportedly benefit from Invictus’ planned creation of a gas-to-power facility that will feed into the national power grid.
Zimbabweans have reportedly welcomed the news that the country may be on the cusp of a fortune-changing economic breakthrough. However, public anticipation is tempered by
environmentalists’ concerns that the network of pipelines that will inevitably be part of the infrastructure could necessitate compulsory population displacement and harm vegetation and animal habitats.
Back in 2014, the media in Zimbabwe had broken news of strong indications of significant reserves of oil and gas resources in northern parts of the country. This was followed by government’s commissioning of mining research experts to determine the extent of the potential reserves. Earlier exploration by Mobil Oil during the 1990s had concluded that there existed a nearly “100 percent potential of gas” and a high possibility of oil occurrence in the region. As is the case with most poor countries, however, further immediate exploratory work got nowhere near the country’s spending front burner due to competing priorities.
Zimbabwe, however, can now reflect on a breakthrough that will see the country joining other African oil and gas economy hopefuls like Mozambique and Namibia and eventually, the heavy-hitters like Angola and Ghana whose economies are reflecting their returns from the oil and gas sector.
While a condition of national anticipation across Zimbabwe reportedly attends the country’s oil and gas prospects, other considerations compete for public attention. A week ago (August 19) the Zimbabwe Mail noted that even as the country celebrates what it considers to be a potential economic breakthrough, the world is seeking to transition away from fossil fuels, a circumstance that was imposing “pressures on the continent’s oil and gas producing nations.”
