Maputo, 13 Feb (AIM) – The American Financial Consulting firm Deloitte believes that Mozambique’s natural gas reserves represent potential revenue of 100 billion dollars.
“The country’s vast gas reserves could make Mozambique one of the world’s top ten producers, responsible for 20 percent of Africa’s production by 2040”, reads a 2024 Deloite report on Africa’s energy prospects, cited by the Portuguese News Agency (Lusa).
Mozambique will be able to “contribute significantly to the world’s energy needs, both during the energy transition period and by establishing strong capacities throughout the renewable energy value chain. The transition to renewable energy presents an opportunity to respond to the country’s energy needs, while going beyond the adoption of technology and developing local value chains and new skills to meet these industry needs”, reads the report.
It points out that natural gas “is expected to bring in around 100 billion dollars in revenue for Mozambique over its life cycle and the country also has a significant competitive advantage in renewable energies, with hydroelectric assets such as the Cahora Bassa dam (2,000 megawatts) and the future potential of the Mphanda Nkuwa dam (1,500 MW), enabling the decarbonisation of regional industry.”
“The country also has a high solar potential,” the report stresses, referring to the solar power stations (80 MW) that have already been installed in Mocuba and Metoro.
“Household demand for electricity is expected to increase with the government’s ambitious electrification programme, called ‘Energy for All’, as well as the increase in the mandatory use of biofuels”, adds the document.
“With effective measures, Mozambique could become an energy centre in southern Africa”, the report stresses.
According to the study, Mozambique needs to define a strategy to navigate the decarbonisation of global markets and its own economy -specifically, how to position itself in the various value chains, selling energy and other value-added products and services.
Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified as one of the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado.
Two of these projects are large and involve channeling the gas from the sea bed to land, and then cooling it in an onshore plant to export it by sea in a liquid state.
One is led by TotalEnergies (Area 1 consortium) and work progressed until it was suspended indefinitely after an armed attack by islamist terrorists on the town of Palma in March 2021, when the French energy company declared that it would only resume work when the area was safe.
The other is the investment, still not formally announced, led by ExxonMobil and Eni (Area 4 consortium).
A third completed, smaller project also belongs to the Area 4 consortium and consists of a floating platform to capture and process gas for export, directly at sea, which started up in November 2022.The floating platform is expected to produce 3.4 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas.
Area 1 is aiming for 13.12 mtpa and the onshore plan for Area 4 predicts 15 mtpa.
(AIM)
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