Question and answer raised in parliament. Nothing definite but...

Question and answer raised in parliament. Nothing definite but it’s moving and people are watching:


ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. In Zimbabwe there are mines which are targeting the extraction of gas and oil. Do we have a Government policy which focuses on the extraction of gas and oil like what other countries are doing?

*THE HON. SPEAKER: Can you clarify? What do you mean by policy?

*HON. MAPIKI: The policy I am referring to is when they manage to find the gas, do we have any law which talks about the distribution or selling in and outside the country like what other countries are doing? Thank you.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR OIL AND GAS RESEARCH AND OTHER STRATEGIC MINERALS EXPLORATION (HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to thank the Hon. Member for asking that question. At the moment, we are actually working on the oil and gas policy as he has described it but we are guided by the Mines and Minerals (Chapter 21.3). So, we are working on the policy and we will be giving it out very soon.

The one which is most leading is Invictus because they have made a lot of progress. However, also let me just mention in passing, Hon. Speaker Sir, that we actually have eight companies that are interested in extracting gas, mostly in Matabeleland North. We are getting these to also follow certain guidelines that we have, the general guidelines which include environmental impact assessment and the normal licencing under Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. I thank you.

*HON. MAPIKI: Supplementary question Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to ask, does our country have shares in all these companies that are extracting gas or we are leaving everything in the hands of these companies which are mining and wait for what the companies are going to declare?

HON. DR. MAKWIRANZOU: As I said, we are working on a policy but what is actually happening is that they are still at the exploration stage. We actually have not started extracting as he implied. At the exploration stage we have a Memorandum of Understanding with these companies on the petroleum profit sharing agreement. So we are working with them and it is going on very well. I thank you.