Mozambique has announced that it will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India for cooperation in the oil and gas sector for a period of five years
According to the Mozambican government, the southeast African country is strategically located near India and is ideally suited for bringing natural gas to India. The participation of Indian energy companies will facilitate access to liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the growing Indian gas market, it added.
Gas reserves have reportedly increased in Mozambique from 141bn cu/m to over 5.6 trillion cu/m in the last five years and the government estimates that an investment of the order of US$50bn can fully harness the gas discovered around the northern coast of the country. The new deal with India might help the Southern African nation cash in on these possibilities.
Offshore gas discoveries in 2010 in two adjacent offshore blocks have seen the emergence of Mozambique as a significant hydrocarbon rich nation, according to Ventures Africa report.
These prospects have attracted a number of international players to Mozambique, the most notable being USA explorer Anadarko and Italy’s ENI. The companies plan to make their first shipment in 2018. Once exports begin, however, the country will definitely be en route to becoming one of the main producers of LNG, the report added.
In moves to further explore its potentials in oil and gas, the Mozambican government has also called for bids from companies for fifteen new blocks totalling an area of 76,800 sq km.
