Mozambique: Norway to help management of future LNG revenues

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Mozambique: Norway to help management of future LNG revenues

8:28 CAT | 12 Feb 2020

Photo: Rádio Moçambique

The Mozambican Government and the Kingdom of Norway on Wednesday signed an agreement that provides for Norway to strengthen Mozambique in the management of future natural gas revenues.

“An agreement has been signed to strengthen oil management which is sensitive and needs to be managed correctly,” said Verónica Macamo, Mozambique’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“It will be very important for the management of resources and revenues and expectations,” she added, and Norway has been an oil and gas producer and exporter since the second half of the 20th century, using the sector to boost development.

Mozambique will begin exporting natural gas beginning in 2022 thanks to megaprojects for extraction and liquefaction in the Rovuma basin, which over the next decade should put the country on the list of the world’s top 10 producers.

The capacity building agreement was signed as part of the visit that Prince Haakon Magno of Norway began today to Maputo, shortly after he was received by the head of state, Filipe Nyusi.

The signing of the agreement comes at a time when Mozambique is discussing the creation of a sovereign wealth fund to manage oil revenues – with Norway having the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.

For his part, Norwegian Minister for International Development, Dag Inge Ulstein said that the agreement provides for a training programme to ensure that the resources benefit future generations and to safeguard the environment.

“Any country that discovers large deposits of natural gas has great opportunities. This industry can build well-being and a sustainable economy,” he said.

On the economic front, the Mozambican government and Norwegian company Yara International signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2017 in Maputo for the production of fertiliser from natural gas to be extracted within four to five years from the Rovuma basin.

Norway has been providing support to the country for over 40 years, in a cooperation focused mainly on energy, health, gender equality and private sector support.

In southern Africa, Mozambique is the third country that absorbed the most funds from Norway in 2018, with about €35 million.

Source: Lusa