Rak Gas oil exploration in Lake Malawi on hold until ‘clarification’

Malawi government has invited Rak Gas, one of the firms searching for oil and gas in Malawi,  for talks  scheduled in March on the mist over suspected links with Hamra Oil  before clearing them for  exploration on blocks Four and Five on the Lake Malawi. [caption id="attachment_104512" align="alignright" width="316"] Chimwemwe Chikusa Country manager for Rak Gas: It will be clarified[/caption] [caption id="attachment_104513" align="alignright" width="410"] Msaka: There are issues[/caption] Minister of Energy and Mining Minister Bright Msaka has said government has “issues” with blocks Four and Five which were allocated to Rak Gas. According to press reports, Lake Malawi is divided into six segments for oil and gas exploration with block One awarded to Sac Oil Holdings Limited of South Africa in 2012 whereas Block Two and Three were awarded to a British firm Surestream Petroleum in 2011, but in 2013 Hamra Oil Holdings acquired a 51 percent stake in the Surestream licences. Blocks Four and Five were awarded to Rak Gas in July 2013 whereas the sixth block went to Pacific Oil. Rak Gas is owned by the government of Ras Al Khaimah, one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates, but the legal opinion by the Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale described the production sharing agreements which government signed with some companies exploring oil as irregular. Nyasa Times understand government want to clarify any links between Rak Gas and Hamra. Msaka is quoted in a local newspaper on Sunday, saying President Peter Mutharika  wants the the production sharing agreements to “benefit Malawians” and that government will only proceed with only if the nation and the President is “ satisfied” and the production sharing agreement is beneficial to Malawians. Rak Gas representative Chimwemwe Chikusa said the  process appears  “cordial and constructive” and is upbeat that “everything will be sorted out through negotiations.”