Australian Invictus Claims No Oil and Gas Locations in Zimbabwe Energy and Oil

Invictus Energy, Australia announced on Friday that it did not find oil and gas deposits in northern Zimbabwe, but there were references to a "functioning petroleum system" that can only be confirmed by a planned well exploration.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa told reporters on Thursday that Invictus found oil and gas deposits in the Muzarabani area and agreed to conclude a production agreement with Zimbabwe after the project had reached commercial production.

Invictus, however, in his statement to the Australian stock exchange spared Zimbabwe's expectations of the oil spill that "no oil or gas discovery has taken place."

"The future resource estimation of the Muzaraban outlook is about unexploded accumulation that poses both the risk of discovery and the development risk," said Invictus.

"Although the Cabora Basin has all the functionality of a mineral oil system, exploration can only be demonstrated by drilling a research drill."

Invited by Zimbabwe-born Invictus, Scott MacMillan, on Thursday attended Mnangagwa's press conference.

Winston Chitando, Miner Minister, said the well would cost $ 20 million in 2020 and said the Muzarabani project is the largest undrilled offshore resource in Africa.

Invictus, an independent oil and gas exploration company whose only asset is in Zimbabwe, uses the data used by Mobil Oil for the first time in the 1990s.

Chitando said that Invictus made a bigger move than Mobil because he knew better the Muzarabani basin that has a similar geological structure for Uganda and Kenya where oil is found.

The South African nation suffers from a dollar crunch that has fueled fuel shortages and the price of basic goods over the past few weeks. (Editing by Eddie Blair by Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe)