Invictus Secures US$0.5 billion Qatar Lifeline, Sells 19.9% Stake to Drive Cabora Bassa to Production

Victoria falls stock exchange listed oil and gas company, Invictus Energy has struck a landmark deal with Qatar’s Al Mansour Holdings that could reshape Zimbabwe’s upstream oil and gas landscape, sealing a US$500 million conditional financing package while selling a 19.9% equity stake to the Gulf investment group, Mining Zimbabwe can report.

By Rudairo Mapuranga

The agreement, announced this week, gives Invictus the financial firepower to push its flagship Cabora Bassa project in northern Zimbabwe from exploration into commercial production. Alongside the deal, the two parties are launching Al Mansour Oil & Gas (AMOG), a joint venture targeting wider African oil and gas acquisitions.

For a company that has been navigating Zimbabwe’s resource frontier largely on its own, this is the clearest signal yet that global capital is willing to back Cabora Bassa.

“We see this as just the beginning,” said Sheikh Mansour, Al Mansour Holdings Chairman, underlining Qatar’s ambitions to build a broader footprint in African hydrocarbons.

Invictus Managing Director Scott Macmillan described the deal as a “transformational milestone,” stressing that the funding secures the path to commercialisation. “This ensures Cabora Bassa can move from potential into production, and with AMOG, we now have a vehicle for regional expansion,” he said.

Zimbabwe, which has long awaited a breakthrough in petroleum development, is central to the agreement. If realised, Cabora Bassa would mark the country’s first oil and gas production project, with ripple effects on energy security, industrial growth, and foreign currency generation.

The US$500 million financing is conditional, with specific milestones expected to be met as the project advances. Still, the injection of Qatari capital positions Invictus among a rare group of junior explorers globally able to court sovereign-scale backers.

For the government, the deal reinforces Harare’s narrative of Zimbabwe as an emerging frontier for energy and resource investors.

The creation of AMOG signals that the partnership is not confined to Zimbabwe. The joint venture will scan the continent for upstream opportunities, leveraging Invictus’s exploration track record and Al Mansour’s capital muscle.

At a time when many international players are pulling back from African hydrocarbons, Invictus’s coup is both a win for Zimbabwe and a reminder that frontier energy still attracts big money when geology meets the right partnerships.