Maputo, Mozambique | – Mozambican Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Leticia Klemens and the Vice President of Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell, Clare Harris, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the allocation of natural gas from the Rovuma Basin, in northern Mozambique, for domestic use.
The signing of the MoU follows the results of the public tender for awarding the gas for domestic use, which were published in January.
Among the three winning bids was one from Shell-Mocambique, which requested between 310 and 330 million cubic feet of natural gas a day in order to produce 38,000 barrels of liquid fuels (diesel, naphta and kerosene) and 50 to 80 megawatts of electricity.
Monday’s agreement is seen as an important step towards implementing Mozambique’s Gas Master Plan, intended to diversity the industrialisation of the country, based on the enormous reserves of gas in the Rovuma Basin.
At the signing ceremony, Klemens stressed that a key aim of the government’s strategy for the sector is to ensure that the country’s development needs can be met through using natural gas in Mozambican industries.
She called for “integrated planning” between the liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the Rovuma Basin, and the projects, such as those of Shell, to use the gas for domestic purposes.
Harris said the MoU was an important step towards developing the project, and thanked the government for its continued support.
