Anadarko Announces Huge Natural Gas Discovery off the Coast of Mozambique

Anadarko has just announced the discovery of a huge natural gas field off the coast of Mozambique. The US oil and gas exploration company made its first natural gas discovery in Mozambique in 2010, and has since grown to become one of the largest independent entities in the East African country’s natural gas sector.

The discovery was made at the offshore Orca-1 well in the Rovuma Basin, and plans are now being made to drill two more wells in order to evaluate the full potential of the Orca field.

Bob Daniels, the senior vice president of worldwide exploration for Anadarko, stated that, “discovering another large, distinct and separate natural gas accumulation in the Offshore Area 1 continues our outstanding exploration success offshore Mozambique.”

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Natural gas is generally cooled to a liquid state, known as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and then exported on tankers to markets around the world. The plants required to process the gas into LNG cost billions to build, but Anadarko’s success at discovering huge fields in Mozambique could attract Big Oil companies who would have the cash to invest in such a plant. Mozambiques location in East Africa would then make it ideal for supplying the growing Asian market.

Anadarko is also drilling exploratory deepwater wells in Kenya, with initial data suggesting large amounts of petroleum.

By. Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com