The Sunday Mail
Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
With the Russia-Ukraine conflict raging on and continued souring relations between Russia and European countries, the latter are now considering Africa as an alternative supplier of gas and oil, raising expectations this could provide countless opportunities for Zimbabwe, which is angling to become a major supplier.
The EU heavily depends on energy from Russia, the largest supplier to the bloc.
Russia, which holds the largest gas reserves in the world, produces about 17 percent of global natural gas and supplies about 30-40 percent of the gas to Europe.
With countries such as Zimbabwe on the cusp of gas and oil discoveries, analysts believe the time could be ripe for exploration and production to be speeded up.
The EU is looking for alternative suppliers from African countries such as Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt, Nigeria and Mozambique.
Economist Mr Tinevimbo Shava said securing pre-production agreements might be strategic to tapping into the multi-billion-dollar sector.
“The country needs to realise that such a tectonic shift in global markets happen maybe once in a decade or two and in order to benefit, the country needs to get pre-production agreements in place to secure markets,” he said.
“With our proximity to Beira, we could leverage on that and put forward our name in order to cash in on the deals that are currently being signed by our neighbours.
“Muzarabani is also close to Mozambique, making it cheap to construct a pipeline from there to connect with Mozambican ports for exports.”
Invictus Energy, the Australian company exploring gas and oil locally, expects to start drilling its prospect by July.
“The rig is mobilising in May and should arrive in Zimbabwe around mid-June; it depends on transit from Songo Songo in Tanzania,” Invictus managing director Mr Scott Macmillan explained recently.
It is believed that the Muzarabani structure − now known as Mukuyu, after the fig tree − may hold more than 8 trillion cubic feet (227 billion cubic metres) of gas.
In addition, it may have another 290 million barrels of condensate.
Statistics show that last year, Algeria and Nigeria were the only two African suppliers of gas to the European Union, accounting for 17 percent and 4 percent of the EU’s natural gas imports, respectively.
The other major players in the region are Egypt, Libya, Equatorial Guinea and Angola.
While countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have gas reserves, they have not received any interest from abroad and investment needed for the industry to open up access to Europe, according to international news agencies.
Three pipelines currently bring natural gas from Africa to Europe − the Transmed, which allows the export from Algeria to Italy (via Tunisia); the Medgaz, which connects Algeria to Spain under the sea; as well as the Greenstream, more modest in capacity, which connects Libya to Sicily, according to media reports.
Energy expert Mr Lennon Magwadza said:
“The country definitely has gas; that has never been in doubt. We have evidence of it from the Exxon Mobil research.
“It is the oil component that we are doubting is viable but as of gas, it is given and we need to cash on the opportunity that has arisen.”
In April, many exploration firms turned to Africa.
Angola and Italy have already signed a declaration of intent to develop new natural gas ventures and to increase exports to Italy, according to a statement from the Italian Foreign Ministry.
Italy is also reportedly considering adding Angola and the Republic of the Congo to a portfolio of suppliers to substitute Russia, which provides about 45 percent of Italian gas.
Algeria is currently Italy’s second-largest supplier, providing around 30 percent of its consumption.
