MAPUTO, April 25 (Reuters) – Mozambique plans to increase
the maximum stake it holds in future oil blocks to up to 40
percent from a current maximum of 25 percent, the head of the
national oil company said on Wednesday.
Recent gas discoveries by U.S. oil and gas producer Anadarko
Petroleum and Italy’s Eni have boosted interest
in the southern African country and Mozambique hopes to keep a
greater share of future profits in the country.
“The plan is to go up to 40 percent in all future projects,
to improve state control of the companies and get more income
for the country,” Nelson Ocuane told Reuters on the sidelines of
an energy and mining conference in Maputo.
“It will be possible to do it as we get income from the
projects in which we are participating at the moment.”
In future Mozambican national oil company Empresa Nacional
de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) may also opt to develop certain blocks
on its own if it has developed its financial muscle to do so,
Ocuane added.
ENH currently holds a 25 percent stake in the Pande/Temane
onshore field operated by South African petrochemical group
Sasol and a 10 percent stake valid for the exploration
phase in offshore blocks run by consortia operated by Anadarko,
Eni and Norway’s Statoil.
The country will need to mobilise $3 billion by the end of
next year to keep its 10-percent stake in the Rovuma basin
offshore projects as they move to the next phase, Ocuane added.
The actual stakes ENH would take in individual blocks would
be decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on funding
required.
Mozambique plans to launch the next bidding round for blocks
in Rovuma by the end of this year, an official from the national
oil institute said earlier this week.
Companies including Eni, Exxon Mobil, BP,
Malaysia’s Petronas, Shell, Tullow Oil
, Vitol and Noble Energy, have
expressed interest in future bidding rounds, he
said.
(Reporting by William Mapote and Agnieszka Flak; editing by
Keiron Henderson)
