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Russian foreign minister hopes that politics will not interfere with ExxonMobil/Rosneft relationship in Mozambique
12:37 CAT | 08 Mar 2018
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Maputo on Wednesday that political issues would not interfere with ExxonMobil’s business with Rosneft in Mozambique.
“In Mozambique and everywhere in the world, we argue that economic interests should not be defined by political issues and we think that this principle will be a priority here,” the head of Russian diplomacy said during a visit to Maputo.
US oil company ExxonMobil and Russia’s state-owned company Rosneft have been partners in oil prospecting off the Mozambican coast since 2015, along with Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH).
However, the US company told investors in February that it would withdraw from joint projects with Rosneft in line with United States and the European Union sanctions against Russia.
Answering questions by journalists after a meeting with Mozambican president Filipe Nyusi, the Russian official said he was aware that the exploration consortium would “legalise future work” in Mozambique.
“If there are any problems with our Exxon partners, I think they should be discussed first among the consortium members and a solution defined,” he added.
“We will see how the economic interests of American companies will or will not be affected by the position of the American state,” Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister said his country “has plans” for the energy sector in Mozambique but was reserving them for the April meeting of the intergovernmental joint committee in Maputo.
The ExxonMobil, Rosneft and ENH consortium were granted three exploration areas in the fifth and most recent hydrocarbon licensing round in Mozambique, in 2015.
Source: Lusa
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