The Qatar Petroleum group will acquire a 25.5% stake in the A5-A block in the Mozambican offshore under an agreement signed with Italian group ENI, according to a statement released in Milan.

The Italian group added that the deepwater block, located in the northern Zambezi Basin, 1,500 kilometres northeast of the capital, Maputo, was assigned to the group under the 5th licensing tender launched by the Mozambican government.

Block A5-A has an area of 5,133 square kilometres and a depth of between 300 and 1,800 metres, in an unexplored area bordering the village of Angoche.

The ENI group is the operator of the consortium of this block, with a 59.5% stake, controlled through its subsidiary ENI Mozambico, which will be reduced to 34% once the deal is approved by the Mozambican authorities.

The remaining partners in the consortium are South African group Sasol with 25.5% and Mozambican state company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), with the remaining 15%.

The ENI group leads another consortium in Mozambique, in partnership with US group ExxonMobil, which will begin the extraction of natural gas in the Rovuma Basin Area 4 block in northern Mozambique.