Madagascar to auction offshore areas for oil prospecting

Madagascar announced that it will auction 96 offshore plots of 2,000 square kilometres each for oil exploration from April until September.

"With the rise in the price of oil, all the world's oil companies are interested in our exploration blocs, so we are going to put them out to tender," Elise Razaka, the head of the National Mines and Strategic Industries Bureau, told Agence France-Presse.

Currently, 10 onshore and four offshore exploration blocs in Madagascar have been awarded following bilateral negotiations or restricted tenders.

Companies involved include Exxon Mobil Corp and Vanco from the United States, Norway's Norsk Hydro, Vuna Energy Ltd from Mauritius and China's Sino Union Petroleum and Chemical.

The west coast of Madagascar has been the scene of oil exploration for the last 40 years, but no viable deposits have been found.

"We are still not sure that we have commercially exportably oil, but we are very close," said Razaka.

Madagascar currently imports all of its oil needs. newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/cmr

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