Mines and Mineral Development Minister Kalombo Mwansa in a ministerial statement to the House said Government was treading cautiously over the issue so as not to make pronouncements that would not yield positive results at the end of the day.

�Although the third survey results strongly suggest the heavy presence of oil or gas in Kabompo, Chavuma and Zambezi districts, there is need to do further studies to determine the sizes of the reserves and to drill the sites to extract the oil and gas in order to determine the types,� Dr Mwansa said.

He said the oil gas exploration team President Mwanawasa had appointed had an important role to play in the granting of contracts as spelt out in the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act.

The committee would be responsible for the formulation of policies and guidelines relating to petroleum and its development in Zambia.

�It is important to stress that the petroleum committee will make decisions on structure of ownership to be adopted for oil and gas facilities in Zambia, the kinds of contracts to be awarded and the role of Government in the petroleum operations,� Dr Mwansa said.

The committee would do this in order to safeguard the interests of the nation. The key conditions to be attached to the contracts were well spelt out in section 26 of the Petroleum Explorations and Production Act.

Some of the conditions included employing and training Zambian nationals to the fullest extent possible with a view to replace foreign personnel as soon as may be practicable.

The committee would start awarding contracts to exploration companies after steps like dividing Zambia into blocks according to a grid system was done. The minister would also publish in the Government Gazette a description of the areas for which bids would be solicited for.

Government would like to see Zambians team up to take a prominent role in the anticipated increase in exploration activities for oil and gas in Zambia and in the subsequent ownership of oil and gas extraction facilities.