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Esperanca Bias, Minister for Mineral Resources of Mozambique said that the first production from Rovuma basin in the country is expected to start in 2018.
India is likely to get the first LNG cargo from Mozambique in 2019, if production starts in 2018, Bias told media persons at Petrotech 2014.
OVL and Oil India holds 20 per cent stake in the Rovuma Area 1 offshore block in Mozambique. The other partners in Area 1 include Anadarko (operator of the project), ENH (the NOC of Mozambique), Mitsui, BPRL, and PTTEP.
Area 1 represents the largest gas discovery in offshore East Africa with estimated recoverable reserves of 35 to 65 trillion cubic feet.
Talking about number of LNG trains the project would start with, Bias said that it would depend on feasibility report. “If it is feasible to have four trains in the beginning we would start four trains.”
India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, M Veerappa Moily have demanded for eight trains of LNG to feed power plants here.
Final investment decision
The final investment decision (FID) for Mozambique project would be completed this year, said D.K Sarraf, Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL).
The FID would cover all norms for developing the project and the attached liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. It would be vetted by the Mozambique Government and all other stakeholders of the project, he told Business Line.
According to the initial proposal, nearly 10 LNG terminals are likely to be set up in the project with each of them having five million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity. Each stakeholder would invest equivalent to the company’s stake in the project, Sarraf explained.
These LNG terminals would come in phases.
Auctioning oil, gas blocks
The Mozambique Minister also said that the country would auction oil and gas blocks.
“We are working on it. It depends on when the Parliament would approve the revision of the law. Blocks would be in both onshore and offshore,” Bias said.
The Indian companies would have to bid for the blocks and no asset would be offered based on bilateral ties.
India and Mozambique would soon sign a MoU for enhancing cooperation in oil and gas sector.
India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, M Veerappa Moliy, urged the Bias to expedite the consortium related issues and also fast-track the development of the discovered assets.
“A draft of the MoU between the Indian and Mozambique governments have been framed and sent to the Indian High Commission at Mozambique. We need to expedite the signing of this MoU as soon as possible,” Moily told media persons after his meeting with Bias.
Siddhartha.s@thehindu.co.in
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