Japanese Buyers Reluctant to Ink Mozambique LNG Deals

Japanese buyers are staying away from signing deal for fuel from Mozambique LNG project because of uncertain government policy, Bloomberg said in a report quoting one of the project’s developers.

Buyers have been reluctant to commit to buying fuel from the African country because of pending Japanese government decisions on nuclear plant restarts and power grid policies that will affect future demand, Bloomberg reported A. Scott Moore, vice president of marketing for Anadarko Petroleum as saying.

Buyers from Japan are also waiting for clarity from the Obama administration on how much U.S. gas will be available to the Asian country, Moore said in an interview to Bloomberg.

“They’re very interested in adding Mozambique to their portfolios and they have a number of really policy-driven uncertainties that impact their view of their future,” he said. “Other countries -- India, Thailand, China -- I think have fewer complications to address.”

Anadarko and Eni have agreed to build world’s second-largest liquefied gas export plant in the East African nation. Anadarko plans to begin shipping LNG from the plant in 2018, Moore said.