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The National Petroleum Institute (NPI), announced that the government of Mozambique has awarded three contracts for gas development projects across the region.
Norway’s Yara International, Shell Mozambique and GL Energy Africa are the selected firms taking part.
Engineering News reported that Yara will develop fertilisers and 30MW to 50MW of power; Shell Mozambique will produce diesel and 50MW to 80MW of power; and GL Energy Africa will produce 250MW from gas resources, the NPI said in a statement on its website.
Last year, the government issued a tender requesting interested developers to bid for the development of natural gas from the Rovuma Basin, which attracted 14 companies.
Humphrey Kariuki, Chairman of GL Africa Energy UK, explained that the project is a key milestone towards fulfilling the company’s mission to generate 1,000MW of power in the Great Lakes and Southern Africa region by 2020. “We are delighted to have been selected by the Government of Mozambique to help harness the significant potential of the Rovuma Basin gas reserves,” he said.
“Through state-of-the art power projects such as the Nakala District facility, GL Africa Energy is playing a vital role in generating affordable power to address the significant energy shortfall in the region and drive the development of the African Continent.”
It is reported that upon the discovery of natural gas in the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of Cabo Delgado province, the government and the concessionaires agreed that a portion of the gas should be used domestically.
Therefore, in August last year government launched the tender to source companies interested in developing projects to use the gas.
The call resulted in proposals from 14 companies, namely: Mitsui, Engro Fertilizer, Shell Mozambique BV, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), Yara International, Marubeni, GL Africa Energy, Muinvest, Auto-Gas, Epsilon, Jiangsu Sinochem Construction, Union-JNC-JSPDI-VBC-SAL Consortium, Gas Nosu, and MOTSE.
In a statement last year, Noticias, a source from the ministry of mineral resources and energy, said that the Rovuma Basin has by far the largest known gas reserves in the country holding an estimated 180 trillion cubic feet of gas.
The operators in the two areas where gas has been found are said to be the Italian company ENI (Area Four) and the US company Anadarko (Area One).
Media reported that ENI is currently working on developing the Coral field, where 3.3 million tonnes of gas a year will be liquefied on a Floating Liquefied Natural Gas facility.
Meanwhile, Anadarko plans to produce 12 million tonnes of LNG a year, using two factories (known as “trains”) located onshore at Palma, in the north of the province.