US-based oil company, Anadarko Petroleum, will this month sell 8 million tonnes of Mozambican liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the Asian market.

“Anadarko and its partners in Mozambique’s Offshore Area 1 have continued to advance long-term LNG sales agreements with the recent addition of new non-binding Heads of Agreement (HOAs) with customers in Asian markets. With these new agreements, the partners have HOAs in place covering a total of more than 8 million tonnes per annum,” the company said in its latest public statement.

Anadarko also said that its business had been given a further boost during the fourth quarter of last year, in which the Government of Mozambique gazetted the Decree Law, “which is an important step in providing the appropriate framework for a stable business environment for investors, customers, financiers and construction contractors as Anadarko advances its large-scale LNG project.”

Anadarko Petroleum’s partners in Area 1 are Mitsui EP Mozambique Area 1 Limitada (20 percent), BPRL Ventures Moçambique B.V. (10 percent),  Videocon Moçambique Rovuma Area 1 Limitada (10 percent) and PTT Exploração e Produção Plc (8.5 percent), and state company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos EP (ENH) (15 percent). The will maintain this relationship throughout the exploration phase.

The World Bank recently said Mozambique has the largest natural gas deposits in Sub-Saharan Africa with over  20 billion barrels reserves of natural gas in deep waters. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also said natural gas production could potentially increase Mozambique’s economic growth rate by two percent annually for the next decade.

By George Mpofu

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