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Indigenisation inflexibility stymies Zimbabwean gas

Zimbabwe has promising gas reserves, but the government’s commitment to holding 51% of all licences is holding back development Zimbabwe has promising gas reserves, but the government’s commitment to holding 51% of all licences is holding back development.
By Ian Nkala 28 April 2017 Europe & Russia / Exploration & Production 0 25685
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at independence day celebrations in Harare in 2016. (PA)

Efforts by Zimbabwe’s government to boost investment in gas and other mineral reserves are being undermined by a lack of flexibility over the country’s indigenisation law, which requires the state to hold 51% of all resource licences. Zimbabwe’s gas reserves, estimated by the government at 1.13 trillion cubic metres, continue to lie untapped because of a lack of funding. 

“We are pushing [for more investment],” Walter Chidhakwa, Zimbabwe’s minister of mines and mining development, told Interfax Natural Gas Daily. 

However, Chidhakwa conceded “there is no...