“Invictus informed us that the findings are positive and indicate oil and gas deposits in the region. The result communicated by Invictus is an exciting development for our country, “Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa told the local press on November 1, 2018.
Even more emphatic than its president, Winston Chitando, the Minister of Mines, described “the largest unexploited field in Africa.” And to hazard a figure, 200 km2, representing the surface of this deposit.
However, it seems that the announcement was premature according to the statements of the firm itself, in response to the Australian authorities: “No discovery of oil or gas was made”, reads in a note of Invictus Energy at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The statement issued by the company is even more explicit: “President Mnangagwa at no time declared that an oil discovery had been made in Zimbabwe, but that the exploration activities undertaken by Invictus had positive indications. ”
Invictus recently reworked the survey data generated in the early 1990s by US oil giant ExxonMobil, formerly known as Mobil. The company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange plans to invest $ 20 million in the project. In this sense, a production sharing agreement has been signed with the government.
The company is expected to dig its first exploration well over the next two years in the district located 240 km north of the capital Harare, near the border with Mozambique.
