Mozambique Oil & Gas: Beira LPG ocean terminal operational by early 2018

The Beira ocean terminal project for the storage, filling and distribution of liquefied petroleum gas, financed by the Exim Bank of India and valued at 38US$ million, will start operating in January next year.

This information was announced yesterday by Petromoc representative Luís Macie in the sidelines of a working visit by Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Letícia Klemens.

Macie explained that the terminal comprises three tanks, with a total storage capacity of three thousand metric tons of gas. In terms of production, it is expected to fill six hundred cylinders per hour. In the case of trucks, it will have the capacity to fill six vehicles of twenty-five tons per day.

Macie said work was already in its final phase, and about 70 to 80 percent complete.

“Our enclosure covers 60,000 square meters, counting the filling station for trucks and bottles, offices and other infrastructures. We forecast finishing the work in November or December of this year. The gas industry is complex though, so we will only start production in January,” he promised.

Macie confessed that construction, which started on 15 July 2015, was originally scheduled for completion in August last year, but bad weather had caused delays.

Hassane Valgy, the human resources manager at the terminal, explained that once in operation, the project would satisfy the demand for domestic gas in the country and beyond.

“This project will also greatly facilitate what the distribution of the product, first in Mozambique, then further afield,” he said.

“We want to be leaders in the regional market” – Minister of Mineral Resources
and Energy, Letícia Klemens

Speaking to reporters after visiting the works, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Letícia Klemens, said that Beira ocean terminal would make Mozambique a leader in the regional market.

“It will have a huge impact. We want to be leaders in the regional market. The terminal will have a great impact for internal and regional needs, and generate tax revenue,” she said.

After the one established in Matola, Beira will be only the second terminal for the storage, filling and distribution of liquefied gas in Mozambique. (By Sérgio Manuel, Diário de Moçambique)