“It is with great honor that I announce the start of the export of liquefied natural gas,” Nyusi said.
The Mozambican president added that the first shipment of gas was produced at the “Coral Sol” plant in the sea, which is operated by the Italian group Eni, expressing his satisfaction that his country “entered the records of world history as an exporter of liquefied natural gas.”
He added that the cargo ship “British Spencer” was sailing from Mozambique waters, destined for the international market.
President Noisy said this was the first shipment to be exported under a long-term purchase and sale contract with British giant BP covering the total volume of LNG produced in Mozambique.
He stressed that Mozambique secures “a stable, transparent and predictable environment for investing billions in investments.”
Coral Sur, the first floating LNG facility to be deployed in deep waters off the coast of Africa, can produce 3.4 million tons of LNG annually.
“Energy Security in Europe”
Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni Group, hailed the start of gas exports from Mozambique, describing it as an “important step forward” in the company’s strategy to make gas an exporter that “can contribute significantly to energy security in Europe, particularly through the increasing diversification of supplies.”
And after the Ukraine crisis, Russia significantly reduced its gas supplies to Europe. Several countries are currently competing to obtain liquefied natural gas. But importing this gas is much more expensive than the gas pipelines between Russia and Europe.
Mozambique has high hopes for its large natural gas deposits, the largest ever discovered in southern Sahara, in the Cabo Delgado region (north) in 2010.
Mozambique could become one of the world’s ten major gas exporters.
But Cabo Delgado, an impoverished Muslim-majority region, has seen attacks by jihadists linked to the Islamic State group. This conflict has resulted in the deaths of about four thousand people since 2017, according to the non-governmental organization “Armed Conflict Website and Fact Data Project” (ACLED), which specializes in monitoring conflicts.
The violence also led to the flight of about 820,000 people from the area.
And a major attack in the coastal city of Palma in 2021 forced the giant French group “Total Energies” to suspend a gas project worth 16.5 billion euros.
The US group ExxonMobil was also forced to suspend a project.
Since July, Rwanda and neighboring countries in the south of the continent have deployed more than 3,100 soldiers to support the struggling Mozambique army.
Nevertheless, jihadist groups entrenched in the area continued to launch sporadic attacks using traditional guerrilla tactics.
Mozambique’s president said in September that it was necessary to plan for the resumption of activity at future natural gas production sites in the north of the country.
Mozambique witnessed a long civil war that lasted 15 years after the departure of the Portuguese colonists in 1975. This war led to the deaths of about one million people.
After a peace agreement was concluded in 1992, the rebel movement turned into a political party.
The rebels fought again in 2013, but a new peace deal was reached in 2019.
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