Luapula and Northern Provinces are earmarked for oil exploration over a period of ten years by a London based Tullow Oil Plc.
Tullow Zambia BV Country Manager Sixtus Mulenga disclosed this during a Senior Management meeting held in the Provincial Administration Conference Room in Mansa.
Dr. Mulenga revealed that the oil block for exploration covers an expanse of a huge area starting from Mwense, Kawambwa through to Chienge in Luapula Province and extends to Mporokoso, the whole of Lake Mweru, Mweru Wantipa, Lake Tanganyika, Nsumbu, Kaputa and Nsama Districts of Northern Province.
Dr. Mulenga said the exploration will cover a huge area and has already been granted a ten year exploration licence under the Zambia Petroleum Act.
The Tullow Zambia Country Manager said the exploration will need key stakeholder engagement which will include geologists and the local people.
He disclosed that the main Zambian Office will be in Mansa for easy communication but the Camp or field Office will be situated in the bush area of Nchelenge District which will be more central to the distances which the oil block covers.
Dr. Mulenga said Tullow Oil Plc has an excellent track record and made oil exploration in Ghana and made Ghana an oil exporting country.
He said the Company was instrumental in the exploration of oil in Uganda and Kenya for the two countries to discover that they had oil deposits within their borders.
And Tullow Oil Plc Safety, Sustainability and External Affairs Manager New Venture Operations David Newton said the exploration exercise will require the involvement of local people.
The London based David Newton said his initial visit in the two regions will take him seven to ten days and would like to ensure that expectations are managed well from day one because exploration is a long process and sometimes may not guarantee the expected results.
He added that his Company believes in transparency and truthfulness in all its dealings and has a good international reputation to protect in the details of its conduct.
And Luapula Permanent Secretary Buleti Nsemukila said Tullow Oil Plc is in the Province for consultations with key stakeholders like Senior Managers of Institutions as part of the process of their programme of activities.
Hope this the results will be positive so that Luapula can be transformed. Right now, Luapula is the least developed province in the country.
@The Chosen One
I thought North Western and Western Provinces are least developed. Apart from the new Kansanshi, Lumwana & Kalumbila mines in NWP & the over-hyped Mongu-Kalabo Road, what development is there in NWP & WP?
I tend to believe these are least developed from the boastfulness of Luapula people & esp that one of their own Chiluba was once President & the government is full of Luapulans as Ministers, PS, Ambassadors, directors etc!
Please educate me by pointing at specific areas which make NWP & WP better developed than LP so that I can walk with my head high.
Funny enough despite producing a President back in 1991 and being a stronghold for the current ruling party, Luapula is still extremely poor. Although the mining proceeds have not trickled down to an ordinary person, North Western is in a much better shape now than say 10 years ago. Yes, the roads may be bad, but the quality of life there has improved. That’s not the case with Luapula. It’s scandalous for a province that has vast amounts of natural resources to be that poor. Southern Province which has been in opposition hand lately, is in top three of richest provinces.
@1 Chosen one, thank you for bringing this one out! Most people think by being objective and supporting governments of the day, Luapula get a lot of development in return! @Neutral,No, NW and Western provinces are now far better!! Luapula does not have the roads, schools and transport infrastructure that Western Province now has! Poverty in Luapula is somehow hidden because people are not used to complaining or blaming others for their misery. The villages look cleaner and thus hide poverty because they are relatively well organised. Luapula has no industry like Lumwana,Kansanshi, Kalumbila like NW,that coupled with pour economic and social infrastructure puts it below both Western and NW Provinces!
Luapula is “self ” developed in that villages are “cosmopolitan ” where they not based on families resulting in villages looking like “cities “. It’s very easy to take development to Luapula. My home Mambilima was a thriving center for education, evangelization and health before independence. But these died when government took all institutions from the missionaries.
Exploration take too long! that’s why KK just wanted to MANUFACTURE it from GRASS!!!!!!
It has to be aliens doing what we ought to do. Then the resources once discovered to siphoned off to benefit Europe and America while the PF govt will be excited with crumbs from the table.
Buleti Nsemukila from Mwanawasa days is still Permanent Secretary!
Certain positions should have limit of tenure. He was PS Energy from levy to RB & now still PS under Lungu!
When will younger ones take over & what is that he did not offer in over 15 years at PS level he may offer?
Even if he does offer it now why didn’t he do so then?
It’s like the present useless school teachers who deliberately withhold imparting knowledge despite being fully paid and tell pupils to attend their extra lessons at fee. With all the somewhat technological advances (computers, internet, cellphones, etc) Zambia has witnessed there should never be need for extra lessons.
In our days without access to school materials on the computers and or/ internet we still managed to obtain good results…
Nowadays good results means leakage.
Corrected
Nowadays good results means exorbitant extra lesson fees and massive exam leakages.
Tullow Oil have a track record of transparency and are definitly the right people to do the exploration. Normally I resent foreigners when it comes to such ventures but Tullow oil are a results based company that has a good corporate social plan. I know for certain that there is oil in Luapula, along with Lithium and Manganese deposits- these 2 rare earth minerals along with small deposits of gold make Luapula even more rich than kachokweland of NW province, Luapula is also blessed with fertile soils, abundant rain and rivers.
@2020vision, usually it is not the companies that mess up; it is the governance system. Just take a peek at the Niger Delta in Nigeria – they swivel around and take a refreshing look at the artificial islands off Qatar and the Dubai success stories… Governance, not good companies. Bad ones can be beaten into shape by good governance. Good ones work despite governance but then again a Delta scenario can unfold nonetheless.
I meant THEN swivel around and take a refreshing look…
@KALOK, very true
Point of order! Chiluba Frederick the former President is not from Luapula! That dead guy is Congolese. Read the constitution on citizenship and learn how pipo become Zambians. Still better u can recall your civics. Zambia is still having high poverty levels esp now that Consumer Price Index will be almost 300% using 2011 as base year! Its a situation where the poor are getting poor& rich richer coz their wealthy will gain as per inflation due to their Investment Portfolios being broad. Lets keep praying as we work harder& adjust our spending patterns!
When did Chiluba become a Congolese? Please educate on this one.
Therez no tribe or region spared with the current economic crisis is a point to keep in mind. This issue has hit every Zambian getting paid in Kwacha either as a wage,Salary or business proceeds.
I just wonder why zambians like to biker over petty issues , mind you zambia is one and every zambian matters .
Yes indeed politicians can be divisive, but never you imitate them because you will be lost in hatred for nothing .
Let every zambian respect each other and no name calling but work hard that you can compete , for nothing comes on the silver plate .
Tribe shouldnt be the issue you just go to school , life is about competing with others than just talking about your smalll village. Seek to be international, that is where you find life zambia is just a small province of Africa to which we identify our selves but we live in a wider world and learn to live with people of different races and nationalities .
It is really good to compete .
No the south, West and northwestern province is least developed.
There is no oil in Zambia. Wake up and stop dreaming. You will drill to the core of the earth and find nothing. Think about other sources of energy.
@my name is.. All countries along the Great Rift Valley geological formation starting right from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, N and S. Sudan, Somalia up to South Africa have oil deposits and now discovered in Uganda with an estimated 1 billion barrels also has oil, Malawi, Mozambique and Tz have oil. Zambia has the highest oil deposits in Luapula mark my words. Uranium and oil in Southern Province, oil and diamonds in Western Province, Gold in Central province, Gold and Platinum in NW province and of course copper in NW, CB, Central, Luapula and Northern.
@The chosen one, please put your facts right. Luapula is not the poorest province in Zambia and its better than Northwestern and Western provinces. Luapula received the lowest budget allocation from MMD governments thus Chiluba and Mwanawasa but they are far much better than Northwestern and Western provinces.
@Luci you are deadly wrong, FTJ. Chiluba the former Republican President of Zambia, was a 100 percent Zambian from Musangu Village in Chief Lukwesa of Mwense district in Luapula province. Musangu village is a boarder village with DR Congo and its a bout 3km from Kasenga district of Congo and about 115km from Lubumbashi city. You can not change history to suit your personal needs, Chiluba fought tough battles into the grave.
@pio just a few more details, I was at Mulundu lower primary schedule when FTJ was doing his standard six at mambilima upper. That time Mambilima Upper was like what DK is, all those who passed standard 2 extremely well earned a place at this school for standard 3. Chiluba came from “kumasamba ” at Lubunda lower and was selected to Mambilima. The Post did its best to discredit Chiluba over his citizenship, even retrieving a birth certificate from Chibambo health center. What they forget is that FTJ still has his relatives at Musangu. It’s a well known fact that due to lack of health facilities in Northern Rhodesia many Zambians took advantage of the facilities across the Luapula. We could have known if he was Congolese just like we the blind who came from other provinces to attend…
Comment:certain comments some people fabricate over innocent lives clearly indicates that we have hidden mental patients shunning chainama mental clinical trials.