Mozambiquecan is planning to launch the country’s 6th licence bid round for 16 new oil and gas blocs and the results are expected to be announced next October, the National Petroleum Institute (INP) said.

The anticipated announcement of Mozambique’s 6th oil and gas licensing round will promote exploration and production activities, and we have comprehensive data coverage from shallow to deep water that provides insight into the geology offshore Mozambique. Palaeocene and Oligocene submarine channels are targets in the Rovuma Basin; these targets remain a focus in the Mozambique Channel area and extend farther south. Explorationists have also successfully mapped and identified Cretaceous slope- and basin-floor fans.

 According to INP, the auction will focus on four regions, including the Rovuma Basin, off its northern coast, where the country discovered rich gas reserves and five new blocs will be open for bids.

It will also include seven blocs in Angoche and two in Zambezia province, both to the south of the offshore Rovuma field, and two in the southern province of Inhambane, with the 16 areas covering over 92,000 sq km (35521.4 square miles) in total, the INP said.

WesternGeco, in collaboration with the National Petroleum Institute of Mozambique (INP), holds an extensive multiclient 2D and 3D data library of offshore Mozambique ranging from prestacked time migration (PSTM) and prestacked depth migration (PSDM) data to shallow hazard 3D volumes. Available to license, these seismic datasets reveal the hydrocarbon potential of both shallow- and deepwaterturbiditic systems. This library of regional seismic coverage enables you to map and derisk the sedimentary architecture of these clastic systems

Mozambique’s gas discoveries were supposed to turn the impoverished nation into a top global gas player, however, so far major developments led by oil giants such as TotalEnergies TOTF.PA have been hampered by an Islamist insurgency on their doorstep.