Zimbabwean minister for Mines and Mining Development, Zhemu Soda has indicated that the country is poised to become a major player in the oil and gas market after Geo Associates confirmed gas, light oil, condensate and helium resources.
The discovered oil fits within the light oil classification and will see Zimbabwe produce diesel, petrol and jet A1, thereby lowering the country’s petroleum import cost.
Addressing a press conference in Harare on Monday, Minister Soda stated that the that the finding was a significant boost to Zimbabwe’s Vision of being an upper middle-class economy by 2030. He said plans are already ongoing for the early marketing and monetisation of the declared findings, while exploratory activity continues.
“Today we are here to make further announcements about the exploration activities that continue to happen in Muzarabani. We are pleased to announce that from the 11 samples that were extracted, Geo Associates reported to Government yesterday that they made further discoveries of gas, condensate, helium, and hydrogen.
“The hydrogen which they discovered does not contain hydrogen sulphide which is an undesirable constituent of our petroleum products and there is potential from the light oil which was discovered to be beneficiated to produce diesel, petrol and jet A1.”
“This is a huge step in the realisation of our Vision 2030 where we aspire to become an upper-middle-income economy,” he said.
Source: Energy Ghana