* Pipeline to cost $40 million
* Gas to go to industry initially, citizens from 2014
By Agnieszka Flak and William Mapote
MAPUTO, April 23 (Reuters) – Mozambique will buy 6 million
gigajoules of gas from South African petrochemicals group Sasol
to bring cleaner energy to the country, the head of
state-owned Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) said on
Monday.
Nelson Ocuane said ENH will need to build a 30-kilometre
(19-mile) pipeline from Matola, where Sasol’s current pipeline
passes on the way to South Africa, to the capital Maputo and
further north to the Maracuene district.
The cost of the pipeline, expected to be completed by
September next year, is estimated at $40 million.
“After three years of talks we have finally managed to agree
a good price for the gas to make this project sustainable,” he
said at a signing ceremony in Maputo.
Ocuane said the government would also subsidise the gas to
supply its resident at prices 40 percent cheaper than currently
available.
It will initially be supplied to industry and services such
as hospitals and to residents from 2014.
Continued…
