Local Content: Private sector wants oil and gas business in Mozambique

Mozambique reports increase in private sector demands regarding its participation in oil and gas exploration projects as a way of maximizing the benefits to the country in the context of local content.

These demands were reiterated by Mozambican businessmen during last Monday conference on local content in the oil and gas sector held in Pemba with the Support of Anadarko.

During the event, it was stressed that  energy projects should create wealth for the country, through greater involvement of national business.

A billion-dollar gas exploration project is being developed in Cabo Delgado in the Rovuma basin, involving companies Anadarko and Eni, among others.

The Pemba conference was also attended by invited delegates from Angola and Ghana, who shared their experiences with local content.

Some businessmen heard by VOA in Maputo stated that many of the gas projects have no connection with local companies, when this sector is considered today as one of the frontiers of expansion and diversification of the national industry, due to the high demand that it exerts for goods and services.

Entrepreneur José Paulino believes that the oil and gas sector is only a propeller of development because of the multiplier effect it has on other industrial and service sectors, but he does not know the government’s strategy in this perspective.

Another businessman, Manuel dos Anjos, says that it would be desirable that as time goes by, the participation of small and medium-sized Mozambican companies in these projects increases.

The Chairman of the National Hydrocarbons Company, Omar Mithá, says that the participation of Mozambican companies in gas exploration projects is provided for in the local content law.

Mithá agrees that the objective is to maximize benefits for Mozambique, “so that oil and gas projects are not tapered or vertical and do not communicate from the point of view of what local economies are.”