Geological Structure and Prospects of the Oil-And-Gas-Bearing Mozambique Continental Margin

Abstract

The principal basins on the Mozambique continental margin are the Mozambique and Rovuma, on the passive continental margin with complex tectonic history, following after the East African Rift System in the Triassic. Although the first gas fields in the coastal zone of the Indian Ocean in southeast Mozambique are appeared yet in the 1960s, only in 2010, did Mozambique achieve a new status as a major world hydrocarbon player—with the discovery of a number of large gas fields in the northeast of the country, in deep-water regions of the Indian Ocean, and in the Rovuma Basin. More than 20 recently discovered gas fields are located in deep-water regions and on the continental slope of the Indian Ocean at depths of 468–2610 m. It is noteworthy that the pays of the same age, the deeper they are buried beneath the water column, the greater their volume of hydrocarbon reserves. A similar trend may help in the case of targeted oil and gas exploration. The prospects of liquid hydrocarbon discoveries are possible in the Madagascar channel behind the Davie Ridge and in deep-water parts on the slopes of the Mozambique continental margin.