Sasol Group should begin extracting oil in Mozambique within two or three years, following the discovery of hydrocarbons in two wells off the shore of Inhambane province, said Sasol executive director Stephen Cornell

Cornell, who accumulates the duties of joint president and CEO, also told Reuters financial agency that they would be the first oil wells to become operational in Mozambique.

The Sasol group exploits natural gas deposits in Pande and Temane, Inhambane province. The American group Anadarko Petroleum and Italy’s ENI also discovered major deposits of that product several years ago in the Rovuma Basin in northern Mozambique.

Cornell said Sasol had drilled four prospecting wells, with all producing positive results. Oil was also discovered in one of the areas where only natural gas was expected.

The group began drilling the first well in May 2016 under the production-sharing agreement signed with the Mozambican government in Inhambane. At the time it was estimated that the first development phase of that agreement, which considers an eventual 14 wells, would cost US$1.4bn.

Source: Oil Review Africa