Mozambique Oil & Gas: Natural gas market sees exponential growth

Demand for natural gas has grown exponentially in Mozambique over the past 13 years, Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Augusto de Sousa Fernando said on Tuesday in Durban, South Africa.

The deputy minister, speaking at the International Gas Co-operation Summit, said that Mozambique and South Africa are working to develop new projects related to natural gas.

For years South African group Sasol has explored natural gas deposits in Pande and Temane, Inhambane province, which is exported to South Africa via an 865-kilometre pipeline.

Andrew Herscowitz, a coordinator of Power Africa, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programme, said the gas market is growing at a very slow pace in Africa, including in the region where Mozambique and South Africa are located.

Referring specifically to Mozambique, Herscowitz said the country is expected to raise US$160 billion over a 20-year period through investments in natural gas-based infrastructure.

The World Economic Outlook report, released on Tuesday in Washington by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), project economic growth in Mozambique of 14.0% in 2022, a year in which the exploration of natural gas deposits in northern Mozambique is expected to begin. (source: Macauhub)