/Reuters Agency
Mozambique has granted its main state companies, including Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), a 30-year concession to build and operate natural gas facilities at the Port of Beira and at the smaller Inhassoro site.
The southern African country’s efforts to develop its oil and gas reserves have been hampered by an insurgency in the north linked to Islamism, which has delayed TotalEnergies’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, despite some security improvements.
The concession will be managed through a special purpose vehicle formed by ENH, Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM), the power company Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) and the hydroelectric company Cahora Bassa (HCB), together with technical and financial partners selected by the government.
The exclusive agreement covers a liquefied natural gas terminal, storage facilities and the 865-kilometer Rompco gas pipeline connecting Mozambique’s gas fields to South Africa.
Rompco is a public-private partnership between the governments of Mozambique and South Africa, each with 40%, and Sasol which owns the remaining 20%.
“The project is based on a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) anchored in Beira and Inhambane and connected to the pipeline,” the National Petroleum Regulator (INP) stated on its website.
The government recently approved the concession, while TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil are advancing with their own LNG projects.
“The new infrastructure aims to support the transportation of LNG from different projects in the Rovuma Basin, where TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil are active, in addition to boosting industrialization by ensuring that a portion of the gas enters the domestic market,” according to the INP.
“This is the missing logistical support to transform the gas potential of Rovuma into real value for the country,” a Sasol spokesperson said.
