Mozambique Oil & Gas: ENH considers building north-south gas pipeline

Mozambique is studying the economic feasibility of building a gas pipeline linking the north and south of the country, the chairman of state oil and gas company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), Nelson Ocuane, said recently according to daily newspaper Notícias.

Noting that substantial discoveries of natural gas in the Rovuma basin were enough to meet domestic demand, as well as to export liquid natural gas (LNG), Ocuane said that the pipeline project was heavily dependent on development of industries to support the sector.

“We have substantial natural gas discoveries and the idea is to see if it’s possible to bring this gas to the south and develop other industries, which could support construction of the pipeline,” said the ENH chairman.

The master plan for the gas prioritises electricity production and transformation of the gas into fertilizer and liquid fuel, with a view to supporting economic diversification, modernisation of agriculture and expanding access to electricity with resulting industrial expansion.

In total it is estimated that so far 180 trillion cubic feet of natural gas has been found, which is due to start being extracted in 2018 according to plans drawn up by Italian group ENI and US group Anadarko Petroleum.

The Mozambique sedimentary basin is also active and the Pande and Temane gas fields located there have been explored by South African petrochemical group Sasol for the last 10 years.

This gas is exported to South Africa and also supplies the domestic market, which is expanding based on the pipeline built in Maputo and extended to Marracuene.(Mc/Mz)