Gas will be central to Mozambique’s energy matrix

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Gas will be central to Mozambique’s energy matrix

11:41 CAT | 26 Apr 2018

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Natural gas will be a determining component of Mozambique’s energy matrix.

According to the Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Augusto Fernando, with the commercial start-up of the Maputo Power Plant later this year, Mozambique’s natural gas-based energy production could cover between 45 and 50 percent of the country’s needs.

Speaking yesterday in Maputo at the opening ceremony of the 6th edition of the Mozambique Conference on Mines and Energy (MMEC 2018), the minister said that Mozambique was the largest exporter of natural gas in southern Africa and would soon consolidate its status with the provision of the Rovuma Basin liquid natural gas for domestic consumption and export to international markets.

Augusto Fernando told the conference, which enjoys the participation of more than 130 companies and 72 speakers from 20 countries, that Mozambique’s electric power sector still had unrealised potential.

“Mozambique is one of the largest coal producers and exporters in Southern Africa. It is also the largest exporter of clean energy in the region, through the Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric Plant, a position that is expected to be reinforced by the implementation of other projects,” he said.

Mozambique’s energy industry had for two years battled adversities related to the fall in price of coal, oil and gas in the international market, aggravated by transport logistics and the challenge of investment in the sector.

Today, the country had reversed the situation, with the price of thermal coal rising from US$60 to US$80 per ton in international markets, and coke from US$110 to US$200, stimulating production and consequently exports, he said.

But Mozambique’s mining sector was not limited to coal. Recently, one of the largest graphite processing plants in the world, employing around 1,500 workers and with capacity of 350,000 tons per year, was inaugurated in Balama, Cabo Delgado province, Fernando noted.

The conference, which ends today, is organised by AME Trade in partnership with Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) and the Geological Society of Mozambique (AGMM).

Mozambican natural gas to meet half of domestic demand: official

Source: Notícias