Oxfam report faults govt on oil exploration deals on Lake Malawi

A damning consultancy report has faulted the government for questionable oil exploration contracts on Lake Malawi and its move to make the deals secret.

The petroleum exploration on Lake Malawi report says the contract, which Malawi signed in May 2014, leaves a lot to be desired.

The report which is titled ‘Malawi’s troubled oil sector;  Licences, contracts and their implications’  was sanctioned by Oxfarm International and was done by a Canadian consultant.

It says the government and the people of Malawi stand to lose out in the whole oil exploration contracts as the government would get just five percent of the oil extracted from the lake.

“Officials spught to fast-track exploration activities ignoring to put in place a clear national place and to  revise the badly outdated Petroleum (Exploration and Production ) Act of 1983,” reads part of the report.

Oxfam Malawi Country director John Makina said looking at the contracts that were signed, it is clear that Malawi will not benefit.

“There is more that is going to the companies,” he said.

The report which analyses the initial allowacation of exploration licences and the signing of contracts for oil blocks 4,5 and 6 also wonders why the government is making the report a secret.

An official from the ministry of Energy, Cassius Chirambo trashed the report, saying most of its content leaves to be desired, describing it as a not balanced report.

Chirambo says views from the government were left out.