State-owned Qatar Petroleum (QP) has signed a deal with US oil major ExxonMobil to buy a 10 per cent participating interest in three offshore exploration blocks in Mozambique’s Angoche and Zambezi basins.

ExxonMobil currently owns the majority 60 per cent interest in the blocks through a subsidiary.

Two of the blocks - Z5-C and Z5-D - are in the Zambezi basin, while the A5-B block lies in the Angoche basin.

Other stakeholders in the blocks include affiliates of the local Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) with a 20 per cent interest, and Russia’s Rosneft with another 20 per cent interest.

The three exploration blocks were won by ExxonMobil and Rosneft through their respective subsidiaries - ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Mozambique Offshore and RN-Exploration - during Mozambique’s fifth licensing round in October 2015.

By way of the stake purchase, QP has made its first foray into Mozambique’s offshore basins.

The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals from the government of Mozambique however.

Z5-C and Z5-D are spread over a total area of around 10,200 square kilometres, with depths from 200 metres to 2,000 metres, while A5-B has an area of about 6,450 square kilometres at depths from 1,800m to 2,500m.