Mozambique energy minister fired

MAPUTO, September 29, 2016 – Mozambique’s presidency announced on Thursday that the country’s minister of energy and mineral resources, Pedro Couto, had been fired.

Couto, a former deputy finance minister, had held the position since January 2015. The presidency did not elaborate on the reasons behind the minister’s dismissal. Home to vast gas reserves, Mozambique has in recent years struggled in its negotiations with operators Anadarko and Eni. The country’s Rovuma Basin holds known gas reserves of some 2.1 tcm (75 tcf).

Last week, India’s Bharat Petro Resources said it expected gas flows the Rovuma basin fields to commence in 2020-21, some two years later than anticipated. The fields were discovered in 2010. Yet the development project it not without progress.

Talks between Eni and Samsung Heavy on a USD 5.4-billion floating LNG project are currently underway, with an award expected before the end of 2016. In August, sources familiar with Eni’s operations in Mozambique told Reuters that a deal had been reached with ExxonMobil on a stake in a separate, onshore LNG development.

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