Zambia is richly endowed with natural resources ranging from mineral resources to potential deposits of fossil fuel. As part of a value extraction strategy, the government has mad concerted efforts to expedite exploration works to boost investment in the petroleum faculty. Some of the areas that have been earmarked as potential oil and natural gas blocks are part of the great rift valley bordering East African neighbours such as Tanzania through the Lakes Mweru and Tanganyika on the northern part of the Southern African nation. Other exploration hotspots include areas bordering Angola on the western part of the country which increase the likelihood of crude and gas.
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Authorities in the copper producer are reviewing the petroleum exploration Act No.10 of 2008 and subsidiary legislation with the intent to making investment ninth sector attractive. The recent discovery of crude in Kenya and Tanzania was ray of hope for Zambia located in the same basin.
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Mines and exploration minister Richard Musukwa said his office has recorded exploration works such as Seismic Data Acquisition (SDA) in the quest to upgrade data packages that have been upscaled to boost investment propensity in the sector. The ministry had earlier demarcated 38 petroleum exploration hotspots with an expanse coverage of Central, Southern, Northern, Muchinga, Luapula, Western and North Western provinces.
“A total of 12 (32%) of the 38 blocks have so far been granted exploration licence from time to time through a competitive bidding process which involves a public advertisement in line with Section 9(1), Part(II) of the Petroleum Act of 2008,” mines and explorations minister Musukwa stated. The ministry with the approval of the petroleum committee has conducted 3 licensing rounds in the period 2011 – 2016 of which a total of 12 blocks were licensed to 6 companies namely Geo Petroleum (Block-31), Mafula Energy (Block-32), Sargas Oil (Block-54), Tiiseza Zambia (Block-18), Barotse Petroleum (Blocks-20 and 21) and ZCCM-IH (Blocks-1, 17, 27, 39, 44 and 52), he narrated.
Significant exploration progress has been made in blocks 31, 32 and 54.
Surveys were undertaken in Block 31 which covers areas within Luapula and Northern Provinces to determine the presence of geological basins for possible oil and gas accumulation with outcomes signalling presence of geo-basins around Lakes Mweru and Tanganyika.
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