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Ishemunyoro Chingwere  Business Reporter

Government has setup a technical committee to undertake negotiations for a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Australia Stock Exchange (ASX) listed Invictus Energy’s oil and gas prospect in Muzarabani.

The committee is comprised of officials from the Office of the President and Cabinet, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) and Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA). Also in the committee are permanent secretaries from the ministries of Mines and Mining Development, Energy and Power Development and Finance and Economic Development.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development George Guvamatanga will chair the committee.

The committee has officials from the office of the Attorney General who are expected to come in handy in the crafting of requisite legal framework to encompass production and sharing of the new resource. 

In a notice released yesterday, the company said the project was progressing well and work on its exploration programme is set to escalate.

The Australian junior miner is expected to make a presentation to the Government committee on its progress before end of this month, it has been revealed.

“The Company (Invictus Energy) and the Government have made significant progress with the legal and fiscal framework consisting of amendments to the Petroleum Act and the execution of a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between Geo Associates (Private) Limited, the company’s 80 percent owned subsidiary together with One-Gas Resources (Private) Limited,” said the company.

“The company has been informed by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development that a technical committee has been setup by Government to undertake negotiations for a Production Sharing Agreement and held its first meeting last week.

“The company has been invited to make a presentation to the technical committee prior to the end of March meeting.

“The execution of the PSA is expected to be concluded in the near term and will provide a stable and transparent legal and fiscal framework for the exploration and production of oil and gas in Zimbabwe,” reads the statement.

Having completed desktop exploratory work last year, the miner is expected to move on the ground to undertake massive drilling.

Independent estimates show that the prospect has a strong case for up to 1,3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) or alternatively an estimated resource of 206 billion litres of oil in the Cahora Bassa Basin in Muzarabani.

It is also estimated to contain 8,2 Tcf plus 250 million barrels of conventional gas/condensate (gross mean unrisked) across five horizons while the Msasa Prospect identified under the same permit (SG 4571) is estimated to contain 1,05 Tcf plus 44 million barrels of conventional gas/condensate (gross mean unrisked) across three horizons.