Is Max Tonela the next Energy Minister of Mozambique? – Sources

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Is Max Tonela the next Energy Minister of Mozambique? – Sources

8:24 CAT | 29 Sep 2016

File photo / Max Tonela

Only a few hours after the official announcement by the presidency that Minister Pedro Couto had been discharged from office, rumours and speculation were running wild in Maputo on who will succeed him. Unconfirmed reports from sources close to the Mozambican government say that Max Tonela is set to be the new minister of Mineral Resources and Energy of Mozambique.

According to these same sources, Tonela would be replaced as Minister of Industry and Trade by his deputy minister Ragendra de Sousa.

Meanwhile, other rumours insist that the choice is to fall upon one of the current provincial governors that would ‘fit the profile’ and happen to be serving office in provinces where supposedly a Renamo governor would be appointed, in case the ongoing peace negotiations reach an agreement on the matter. These would be Zambezia, Abdul Razak, and Sofala, Helena Taipo.

No reason was given for the dismissal of Couto, who had held the energy portfolio since January 2015. A separate statement said he had been appointed as president of Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power company.

Pedro Couto exits roughly a month before Italy’s Eni is due to finalise an offshore gas project worth tens of billions of dollars. He moves to head Cahora Bassa where the main task he will face is negotiating the construction of a second power station s he existing one, on the south bank, can generate a theoretical maximum of 2,075 megawatts. A second station, on the north bank, could add a further 1,250 megawatts.

Negotiations with operators Eni and U.S. firm Anadarko have dragged on for years due to disputes over terms and concerns about falling energy prices. However, there have been several signs of significant progress in recent months.

Eni met with bankers in London last week about project financing to develop the Coral field, a significant step in getting the first of a series of long-delayed LNG projects off the ground.

Exxon Mobil is close to buying into Eni’s Mozambique’s assets, sources reportedly told Reuters last month.

President Nysui received Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson in New York on September 20, the presidency’s website reports. Exxon Mobil has three contract areas in Mozambique, in partnership with Rosneft, Z5-C and Z5-D in the Zambezi Delta and A5-B in the Angoche Basin.”Of course there are some challenges, but by what we saw, the country has much hope. There is a lot that will be done and we think that the country has a bright future. There will come a day to smile,” Tillerson said on the occasion, cited by the same source.

Also in New York, the Mozambican president received Kenneth Juster, managing director of the New York-based global investment firm, Warburg Pincus, which is promising to invest at least 100 million US dollars in hydrocarbon exploration in southern Mozambique. Warburg Pincus is one of the investors behind the London-headquartered company Delonex Energy, which in 2015 was awarded the P5-A onshore block in the Palmeiras area of Manhica district, in Maputo province. Delonex is partnered with the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

Juster said told the press that he informed President Nyusi that his company was ready to begin prospecting for oil “and we have the resources and we are ready to invest in Mozambique.” Announcing his company’s readiness to invest the initial US$100 million for the project hes aid that they were working with the government to reach an understanding.“If we reach this model understanding by next month (October), we can start operations in 2017”, he said.

In his recent US visit president Nyusi also visited Anadarko’s headquarters in Houston where he held a meeting with CEO Al Walker.

So far, no official announcement has been made by the presidency on a replacement for Couto at the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Source: Club of Mozambique