Jeremy Buckingham MLC via flickr The New York Times' Mark Scott is reporting a previously unknown player in the energy industry could be sitting on untapped natural gas deposits that outmatch some Arabian states.

"Up and down the country’s shoreline, Western energy companies, as well as a number of Asian competitors, are drilling wells thousands of feet below the Indian Ocean in hopes of striking it rich," Scott writes.

The country?

Mozambique.

Anadarko recently revised its estimates of recoverable reserves in the East African nation from 10 to, at most, 30 trillion cubic feet.

That's more than Kuwait and equal with Iran.

“This could be one of the most important natural gas fields discovered in the last 10 years,” Anadarko Chairman Jim Hackett said.

Scott adds that the entire East African nation could be flush. Kenya and Tanzania have also seen major foreign investments in exploration.