Mozambique (AFP)--U.S. oil company Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) has discovered offshore oil deposits in northern Mozambique, but studies are still underway to determine if they are commercially viable, state media reported Tuesday.

The discovery was in wells at a depth of about 5,100 meters in the Indian Ocean 's Rovuma basin, near the border with Tanzania .

"It is still necessary to confirm, through at least three more wells which will be drilled, that the presence signifies a commercial discovery," Mozambican minerals minister Esperanca Bias told the Noticias newspaper.

Mozambique --one of the world's poorest countries--is experiencing a commodities boom with international companies racing to exploit a range of minerals and metals, notably the largest untapped coal reserves in the world, estimated at 15 billion metric tons.

Earlier this year, Anadarko said it had discovered natural gas in the Rovuma basin, with Italian, Malaysian and Norwegian companies also prospecting for hydrocarbons in the area.

U.S. companies are increasingly turning to Africa to search for new oil reserves, with Washington predicting that by 2015 about 25% of its oil imports will come from Africa , essentially from the Gulf of Guinea .

Major new finds in Uganda and eastern Congo have also underscored the region's importance to future oil supplies.

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