Zimbabwe could significantly strengthen its energy security within the next few years as Australian explorer Invictus Energy moves toward commercial gas production, with a pilot project expected to begin supplying electricity to a gold mine within 12 to 18 months.
The project could prove transformative for the southern African nation, which is seeking to expand its mining sector while grappling with chronic electricity shortages caused by an ageing power system heavily dependent on coal-fired generation and rainfall-sensitive hydropower.
A government report published last year, citing World Bank data, estimated that power shortages cost Zimbabwe’s economy about 6.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 due to generation inefficiencies and losses across the electricity network.
Invictus Energy, the only oil and gas company currently operating in Zimbabwe, plans to launch the pilot power project before scaling up to commercial production, chief executive Scott Macmillan told AFP.
The Perth-based company also plans to drill a new exploration well later this year in the northern Cabora Bassa Basin, where it announced major oil and gas discoveries in 2023 after securing fresh agreements with the Zimbabwean government earlier this year.
More Read
“The pilot will prove the concept that we can produce gas, process it, deliver it to our customers, get all the approvals in place from government and then get paid,” Macmillan said.
“And from there, we’re scaling up into a commercial-size project.”
He said the company, which has operated in Zimbabwe since 2018, expected to move from the pilot phase to full-field commercial production within two to three years.
More Read
“We are going to take a phased approach because it is a new industry, and the markets — although crying out for energy — don’t formally exist for gas without that infrastructure in place and that ecosystem that works,” he said.
Macmillan said the volume of commercially recoverable gas had yet to be fully established but was expected to run into trillions of cubic feet.
According to company estimates, one trillion cubic feet of gas could generate roughly 500 megawatts of electricity annually for two decades, sufficient to supply around 250,000 conventional homes.
Zimbabwe currently relies primarily on the coal-fired Hwange Power Station and the Kariba hydropower plant for electricity generation. However, output from Kariba has frequently been constrained by drought and declining water levels, leading to recurring power cuts that have affected households and businesses.
“We see a huge domestic demand in Zimbabwe for gas, and that will be mainly in the form of power,” Macmillan said.
Beyond meeting domestic demand, the project could eventually support electricity exports to neighbouring countries including South Africa and Zambia, both of which have large mining industries with significant energy requirements.
More Read
“So you can produce locally and sell regionally,” he said.
The development received a major boost in May when Invictus signed a landmark production-sharing agreement with the Zimbabwean government, establishing the fiscal and regulatory framework for the country’s emerging petroleum industry.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said after the signing that the agreement would provide “a stable fiscal and regulatory framework to facilitate petroleum exploration, deployment, production and marketing in Zimbabwe.”
“The government appreciates the significant capital, technology expertise and risks that investors have undertaken in this petroleum exploration project,” Ncube said, according to Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster.
The agreement is expected to serve as a template for future oil and gas developments as Zimbabwe seeks to diversify its energy mix, reduce dependence on electricity imports and support industrial growth through improved energy availability.
