Mozambique: Natural gas dethrones coal as greatest export in Q1

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Mozambique: Natural gas dethrones coal as greatest export in Q1

2:23 CAT | 17 Sep 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Aluminium also surpassed coal in this period in the volume of exports by Mozambique, reaching $380.7 million , a year-on-year increase of 88.3%.

Mozambique sold $567.7 million in natural gas in the first quarter of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 28%, dethroning coal as the leader in Mozambican exports, according to official data compiled by Lusa on Wednesday.

“The increase in natural gas revenues is explained by the increase in the volume exported in area 4 of the Rovuma basin, combined with the 12.8% rise in the average price on the international market,” said the Bank of Mozambique’s balance of payments report for the first quarter of 2025.

Sales of coal, historically Mozambique’s most exported product, fell in the first quarter by 35% compared to the same period in 2024, to $300.8 million, due in particular to “the paralysis of some mines as well as the rupture in the railway line, resulting from bad weather that affected the flow of production” in the centre of the country.

The post-election demonstrations, which lasted throughout the first quarter of this year, “in particular the road blockades that restricted the movement” of workers, also affected production, the document recognises, as did “the fall in the average price” of coal on the international market, by 6%.

Aluminium also surpassed coal in this period in the volume of exports by Mozambique, reaching $380.7 million , a year-on-year increase of 88.3%.

“The improvement in aluminium revenues was due both to the increase in the volume exported (45%) and the average price on the international market (14%),” reads the report.

Up until June, the Mozambican state collected $210 million (€179.3 million) from oil and natural gas exploitation, revenues invested in the Mozambican Sovereign Fund (FSM), more than in the whole of 2024, as reported in August by Lusa.

Data from the Ministry of Finance’s economic and social balance sheet on the implementation of the State Budget from January to June indicates that these revenues include $164.69 million (€140.6 million) from 2024, and $45.24 million (€38.6 million) from the first half of the year.

“They were deposited in the Transitional Account based at the Bank of Mozambique, under the terms of Article 6 of Law No. 1/2024 of 9 January, which creates the Sovereign Fund of Mozambique,” the document reads.

In the whole of 2024 – the first year of the new fund – these revenues delivered to the FSM totalled $158.8 million (€135.5 million), according to previous government figures.

Mozambique has exported 135 shipments of gas since 2022 from the north of the country, the National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH) announced at the end of August.

“Shipments began in 2022, so we have 118 shipments of LNG [Liquefied Natural Gas] and 17 of condensates,” said Monica Juvane, director of ENH, Mozambique’s state oil operator, adding that the main buyer is British oil company BP, which signed a 20-year agreement in 2016 with Eni and the state energy company.

“These are gas contracts and gas contracts have a long term, and this one was awarded to BP,” explained Monica Juvane.

READ: Mozambique: Natural gas exports almost catch up with coal in 2024

Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado, in addition to the one operated by Eni, the only one in production, also Mozambique LNG (Area 1), operated by TotalEnergies, up to 43 million tonnes per year (mtpa), and Rovuma LNG (Area 4), operated by ExxonMobil, with 18 mtpa, both in the development phase.

In 2024, a study by consultancy firm Deloitte concluded that Mozambique’s gas reserves represent potential revenues of $100 billion (€96.2 billion).

This year alone, with the remaining operations not yet operational, Mozambique’s estimated gas production is 5.4 billion cubic metres, making it the sixth-largest producer in Africa.

Source: Lusa