24 November 2008
Maputo — A consortium headed by the South African petro-chemical giant SASOL has discovered two new fields of natural gas, off the coast of the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane.
Few details of the discoveries, made in blocks 16 and 19, are yet available, and so far there is no estimate of how much gas the new fields may contain.
Mozambique's Minister of Mineral Resources, Esperanca Bias, cited in Monday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias", said that the concession to search for natural gas in the two blocks was granted to the consortium in June 2005.
So far the consortium has invested about 100 million US dollars in the two blocks, half of which was spent on an exploratory well.
According to Bias, the gas was discovered at depths of 1,339 and 1,359 metres. She said that, if further research shows that the deposits are commercially viable, the gas will have a considerable impact on the Mozambican economy.
"We have a list of projects that may benefit from the gas, including for electricity generation, the establishment of a fertilizer factory, and use to power vehicles", she said.
Neighbouring countries, she added, were also interested in buying natural gas in Mozambique. Currently the bulk of the gas produced at the onshore fields at Temane and Pande is exported to South Africa. Bias said that Swaziland is also a potential purchaser.
The known reserves at Temane and Pande amount to five trillion cubic feet of gas.
The other members of the consortium working in blocks 16 and 19 are the Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas, and Mozambique's publicly owned National Hydrocarbon Company (ENH).
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
