Mozambique: Country could be gas supplier to Europe replacing Russia – ENH

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Mozambique: Country could be gas supplier to Europe replacing Russia – ENH

6:10 CAT | 26 Jul 2022

File photo: Lusa

Mozambique’s state-owned National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH) on Monday acknowledged the country’s chances of helping to address growing gas needs in Europe, due to uncertainty over Russian supplies following the invasion of Ukraine.

“With the situation of the war in Ukraine, the European market has increased demand for gas. One of the ways to speed up our gas to reach the markets is to use a second floating platform similar to the one that is already here in Mozambique,” said ENH’s executive commercial director, Pascoal Mocumbi Júnior, quoted by Mozambique’s Information Agency (AIM) yesterday.

Mocumbi Júnior said that a second floating liquefied natural gas production platform would join an identical infrastructure that already exists in Mozambican waters, if the country were to be part of the solution to the energy deficit caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

The construction time for a possible second floating unit would be three years, two years less than the time it took to build the unit that has already started loading hydrocarbons, as a way to gain time and speed up gas production, he added.

“With the amount of gas existing in Mozambique, the country, automatically, positions itself as an alternative to supply the need that currently exists and the faster the country can get its gas on the market, the greater the possibility of taking advantage of the current crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” he stressed.

Last week, the outgoing European Union (EU) ambassador to Mozambique argued that natural gas from Cabo Delgado was among the alternatives in Europe’s plan to diversify energy sources in the face of constraints caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Mozambique’s gas, with the presence of large European multinational companies, now has an even more important and strategic value,” Sánchez-Benedito Gaspar said in an interview with Lusa in Maputo.

According to the diplomat, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe came to the conclusion that “it cannot trust its old partner [Russia, among the world’s biggest gas exporters], which is authoritarian and uses gas as an instrument of war,” and is making efforts to secure alternative sources.

“We have adopted a new strategy in Europe, called “RePower EU”, which has several elements […] With regard to gas, which is considered a transitional energy, we are looking for alternative suppliers […] Mozambique is among the alternatives,” Sánchez-Benedito Gaspar stressed.

Although the gas from the three projects approved so far has a destination, Mozambique has proven reserves of over 180 trillion cubic feet, according to data from the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Source: Lusa