Introduction to The Comoros archipelago

The Comoros islands rise two miles from the bottom of the ocean ca. 100 miles off East Africa. They represent a new deepwater frontier in oil and gas exploration thanks to discoveries made in the last decade in Mozambique and Tanzania.  

International oil companies Oxy, Eni, CNPC and ONGC and later ExxonMobil and Total together found there more than a dozen giant gas fields, with reserves of more than 200 Tcf, the equivalent of 33 Billion barrels of oil, yet very little actual oil has been discovered there on the upper slope.  

The Comoros

This Mozambique Channel treasure trove contains more gas than found in the US offshore Gulf of Mexico or in Nigeria and it contains the world’s largest gas finds of the past two decades. These include discoveries by Anadarko (now Oxy) at Prosperidade, Orca, Lagosta, Atum, Golfinho and Tubarã in Mozambique Area 1; Coral, Mamba and Prosperidade, by Eni in Mozambique Area 4; and BG (now Shell) and Equinor’s Zafarini, Nzia, Jodari, Chewa, Pweza and Papa fields in Tanzania.

Development plans now underway target first liquified natural gas production in 2026. The finish line is within sight – in plain view of the Comoros. But where is all the oil?