Communication - Presse
€1,4B of natural gas sold in first nine months of 2024
Mozambique exported natural gas worth almost $1.467 billion (€1.397 billion) in the first nine months of 2024, an increase of 24.6% compared to the same period in 2023.
‘The increase in natural gas revenues is attributed to the growth in the volume exported, associated with the start of exploration and export of gas from area 4 of the Rovuma Basin, in a context in which the average price on the international market fell by 15%,’ reads a report by the Bank of Mozambique, with foreign trade data for the three quarters of 2024.
The document adds that with regard to electricity, from January to September export revenues rose by 7.2% year-on-year to $535.3 million (€509.5 million), a growth that “continues to be influenced by the upward revision of the export price applied to the main customers by the main company exporting this resource”.
Sales of natural gas by Mozambique totalled $1,726 million (€1.643 billion) in 2023, three times more than in 2022, coming close to coal.
Coal still leads among Mozambican exports, but fell in value to $1.54 billion (€1.467 billion) from January to September 2024.
According to data from previous reports by the Bank of Mozambique, natural gas exports in 2023 increased by 218% compared to the previous year, when these sales totalled $541.6 million (€515.6 million).
In 2023, Mozambique also exported gas, in value identical to the years 2017 to 2022, totalling more than $1.866 billion (€1.776 billion).
The increase in natural gas exports continues to be explained by the start-up, at the end of October 2022, of operations in Area 4—the only one of the three approved projects already in the production phase—by Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV), a joint venture co-owned by Exxon Mobil, Eni, and CNPC (China). MRV has a 70% stake in the concession contract, and natural gas production will start in 2022.
Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified as one of the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado, as well as TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil, which have not yet progressed to the production phase.
Eni, the concessionaire for Rovuma Area 4, is developing a second floating platform, a copy of the first and called Coral Norte, to increase gas extraction, a source from the Italian oil company previously told Lusa.
This plan involves acquiring a second floating platform, FNLG, for the North Coral area. It is identical to the one extracting gas since mid-2022 in the South Coral area, which is already under construction in South Korea.
‘Eni is working towards the development of Coral Norte through a second FLNG in Mozambique, taking advantage of the experience and lessons learnt in the Coral Sul FLNG, including those related to costs and execution time,’ added the same source from the oil company, the delegated operator of the consortium.
A document released earlier, drawn up by the Mozambican firm Consultec for the oil company Eni, suggests an investment of $7 billion (€6.3 billion), subject to approval by the Mozambique government.
The initial schedule indicated that the platform would begin production in the second half of 2027.
Coral Norte will be stationed 10 kilometres north of Coral Sul, whose production began in November 2023. This project is the first to exploit the reserves in the Rovuma basin.
