AUSTRALIA Stock Exchange (ASX)-listed Invictus Energy, which has discovered condensate gas in Cabora Bassa, in the northern province of Mashonaland Central, has moved its headquarters from Australia to Zimbabwe to facilitate ongoing project growth and development.
This comes as Qatari firm, Al Mansour Holdings, recently acquired a 19,9 percent stake in Invictus Energy for US$25 million and committed up to US$500 million in conditional future funding for the Cabora Bassa project.
Invictus revealed in a note in its 2025 annual report that the new headquarters in Harare will accommodate senior expatriate staff during ongoing exploration and development.
While the company has not shed more light on its decision, relocating the head office from Australia to Zimbabwe will consolidate operations, improve communication, and boost operational efficiency, among other benefits.
“Development works also continued at our supply base in the Cabora Bassa Basin, which now has accommodation for 20 staff and supporting storage, logistics and workshop spaces to cater to full-scale exploration drilling and associated contractor activity.
“The facilities will provide us with the infrastructure to deliver our future programmes and activities,” Invictus said.
Zimbabwe’s Cabora Bassa Basin is widely referred to by energy companies and industry experts as one of Africa’s largest and last untested frontier rift basins for oil and natural gas exploration.
Invictus Energy holds one primary Special Grant (SG 4571) for the exploration of oil and gas in the Cabora Bassa Basin in northern Zimbabwe, which contains the Mukuyu prospect, where Invictus discovered condensate last year.
It also holds two Exclusive Prospecting Orders (EPOs), which are similar in nature to special grants for exploration purposes: EPO 1848 and EPO 1849 in the area.
The Mukuyu-1 and Mukuyu-2 wells confirmed the presence of high-quality gas condensate in the Upper and Lower Angwa formations.
Invictus first announced in December 2023 the successful discovery of gas in the country. This marked the very first time Zimbabwe recorded drilling for hydrocarbons.
The discovered resource from the first two Mukuyu wells is an estimated 1,3 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas and 230 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).
Across its full license area (including the Mukuyu discovery and other prospects), the total estimated prospective resource is 2,9 Tcf of gas and 184 million barrels of condensate on a gross mean unrisked basis.
Zimbabwe has not yet started commercial gas production because its natural gas project is still in the exploration and development phase, and significant infrastructure needs to be built before commercial extraction can begin.
The discovery of commercial gas deposits is highly important to Zimbabwe as it offers the potential to achieve energy independence, address chronic power shortages, stimulate broad economic growth and industrialization, create jobs, and generate new revenue streams for the Government.