Seychelles, Mauritius to Jointly Look for Oil, Gas

Seychelles and Mauritius plan to jointly explore for oil and gas in a jointly owned area in the Indian Ocean, according to Reuters.

"An Authority will be established to deal with the Licensing and to oversee the activities in the Joint management Area. All revenues will be split 50:50," Eddy Belle, chief executive officer of Seychelles upstream regulator PetroSeychelles said in an emailed response to questions from Reuters.

Reuters said that no deadline has been set for the opening of the area.

In June this year, after two year moratorium, Seychelles invited oil and gas companies to bid for exploration blocks.

With large gas discoveries in East Africa in recent year, the region has been attracting lot of interest from global energy players. Countries too want to exploit their hydrocarbon resources and are looking for foreign investment.