Mozambique sends first batch of liquefied natural gas to ease Europe
This is comforting news for Europe, which faces the risk of natural gas shortages after the drop in hydrocarbon flows from Russia due to the Ukraine war. Indeed, Mozambique, a country in southern Africa, has officially started exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), President Filipe Nyusi announced on Sunday. “It is with great honor that I announce the launch of the first export of liquefied natural gas“, he said in a video statement.
Saying that the first gas cargo was produced at the “Coral Sul” marine plant managed by the Italian “Eni” group, the head of state welcomed the entry of his country into our country.chronicle of world history“This is the first export covering the total volume of LNG produced in Mozambique under the long-term purchase and sale agreement with the British giant BP,” President Nuysi clarified.
According to him, the country offers “stable, transparent and predictable environment for multi-billion investmentsThe Coral Sur liquefaction facility, the first deep-water floating liquefied natural gas facility off the coast of Africa, can produce 3.4 million tons of LNG per year.
“European energy security”
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi “significant progress“in the company’s strategy to turn gas into a resource”can make an important contribution to Europe’s energy security, in particular by increasing the diversification of supply“, despite the carbon effect of this hydrocarbon throughout the chain.
In fact, after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia significantly reduced gas supplies to Europe. As a result, many countries are now competing for access to liquefied natural gas. But the import of this gas is much more expensive than the gas coming through gas pipelines between Russia and Europe, and the lack of supply relative to demand makes prices a little higher. The result: loads go to the highest bidders, exacerbating the energy crisis in countries less wealthy than Europe, such as Pakistan.
Projects suspended due to conflicts
Mozambique has high hopes for the largest sub-Saharan natural gas field discovered in 2010 north of Cabo Delgado province. Once exploited, these deposits could make Mozambique one of the world’s top ten exporters.
But the current political situation could hamper that project: the impoverished, Muslim-majority Cabo Delgado province has been under attack by jihadist fighters affiliated with the Islamic State group since October 2017, killing nearly 4,000 people. to Acled NGO, which collects information in conflict zones. The violence also caused 820,000 people to flee. In 2021, a major attack in the coastal city of Palma forced French giant TotalEnergies to suspend a €16.5 billion gas project. The American ExxonMobil project has also been suspended.
Since July, Rwanda and neighboring South Africa have sent more than 3,100 troops to support the struggling Mozambican army. Jihadi groups entrenched in the country have adopted more classic guerrilla tactics and continued to carry out sporadic attacks.
In September, the President of Mozambique “relevant” predicting the resumption of activity in the future natural gas production fields in the north of the country. After the departure of the Portuguese colonizer in 1975, the country went through a long civil war that lasted for fifteen years and killed about a million people. Then. In 1992, a rebellion with a peace agreement turned into a political party. In 2013, the rebels began to re-arm until a new agreement was reached in 2019.
(via AFP)
