Reuters: Mozambique sees $30 bln investment for 2018 LNG exports startup

More than $30 billion will be invested initially in Mozambique's natural gas sector to build capacity to produce 20 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with the first exports due to start in 2018, the national oil company said.

The investments will be made to develop the northern ports of Pemba and Palma, where a giant logistics base and LNG production plants are planned that will use gas produced from offshore fields in the Rovuma Basin being developed by U.S. oil major Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Italy's Eni.

Mozambique, which still bears the scars of a 1975-1992 civil war, is hoping revenues from its large gas deposits and its fledgling coal mining industry will help it emerge from years of poverty and dependence on foreign donors.

The country holds presidential elections on Oct. 15.

"In an initial phase, liquefaction units with a total capacity for 20 million tonnes a year of LNG will be built and operated. The investment to be made tops $30 billion," Nelson Ocuane, president of the state oil company ENH, told Reuters.

The initial exports from 2018 will come from a first LNG train of 5 million tonnes a year, with overall capacity for the industry to be ramped up subsequently to 20 million tonnes per year. MORE