Final investment decision on gas may be taken within days – Galp CEO

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Final investment decision on gas may be taken within days – Galp CEO

11:17 CAT | 31 May 2017

O País

The final investment decision on Galp’s Rovuma’s Area 4 natural gas project in Cabo Delgado will be taken within weeks or days, Galp CEO Carlos Gomes da Silva says. Engineering and the ability to execute is what is at stake in the decision.

His statement comes after several investors in Rovuma Area 4 have already approved their individual investments, including Galp, a Portuguese company, and the state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos.

“I would say that we are already practically in the final phase of decision making. I would say weeks or days to make that decision. So I think that this is the moment when Mozambique and all the partners that have been developing this project will have the opportunity to start a new stage that will take time. It takes time for the execution to be made,” da Silva said.

But this is not all. Da Silva further promises that the foundation stone of the project infrastructure will be laid this year. “The answer is yes, definitely. No project has difficulty moving forward if it is of good quality. It is never the funding that determines this, but feasible context conditions,” the Galp CEO said.

As for the fate of the gas to be exploited in the Rovuma basin in the north of the country, da Silva says that in the first phase it will have to be the international market. “In this first phase, this gas will sold in the international markets. There will then be a second phase of the project, which is more structural and will take place in one to one-and-a-half year’s time, and that is a decision which will lead to another dimension and, in view of the structuring of the project, to the availability of natural gas for domestic consumption in Mozambique,” he said.

Da Silva was speaking yesterday after signing a memorandum of understanding committing Galp Energia to providing 40 million meticais to finance rural electrification in partnership with the Energy Fund. The project covers, initially, the provinces of Maputo, Sofala, Manica and Cabo Delgado. The signing this Tuesday was attended by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Leticia Klemens.

Galp finances rural electrification in the country

“Galp brings us investment of around 40 million meticais to cover the connection of 234 villages that the Energy Fund has developed over time, including about 700 schools and 600 health centres, in response to the desire of rural communities for energy services,” the Energy Fund CEO said.

Source: O País