The production sharing agreement between the Zimbabwean government and energy resources firm GeoAssociates over the exploration of oil and gas in Muzarabini is expected to be completed soon, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Mines and Minerals Development Minister Winston Chitando said the production sharing agreement draft would be concluded in the next few weeks.
Speaking to reporters at the technical presentation of the Muzarabini oil and gas project on Wednesday, Chitando also revealed that work on the ground was expected to begin next month with geophysical activities and the drilling of the test wells scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2021.
Chitando added that two test wells would be drilled, one which is four kilometres in length, with the other being two kilometres in length.
In total, GeoAssociates is expected to spend US$20 million for exploration only, over an area of 100 000 hectares.
GeoAssociates is a partnership between the Australian company Invictus Energy and Zimbabwean company One Gas Resources.
Invictus has an 80% shareholding, while One Gas Resources has a 20% shareholding in GeoAssociates.
The exploration for gas and oil in Muzarabani began in 2018 and GeoAssociates managing director Paul Chimbodza said they have spent US$3,5 million so far towards the project.