The Matola Gas Company (MGC), in partnership with the French oil and gas company Total, has guaranteed the construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal in the southern Mozambican port of Matola, in anticipation of declining gas production from the Pande and Temane onshore gas fields in Inhambane province.
The South African petrochemical company Sasol operates the Pande and Temane fields. The gas is processed at Temane, and an 865 kilometre pipeline carries it to Secunda in South Africa. A spur carries some of the gas for use by industries in and around Maputo.
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Uninterrupted supply of gas to more than 30 industries
The construction of an LNG terminal is intended to ensure the uninterrupted supply of gas to more than 30 industries in the Maputo/Matola area, and in future for export to other SADC (Southern African Development Community) countries.
Initially, the terminal will receive LNG from the international market, but later the LNG will come from Mozambique’s own reserves in the Rovuma Basin, in the far north of the country. Total is the operator of Rovuma Basin Area One, and heads the consortium that will produce LNG at plants built on the Afungi peninsula, in Palma district.
The Rovuma Basin LNG will replace the gas from Pande and Temane, which will go into decline as from 2024, as the reserves are gradually exhausted.
Construction of the terminal is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021, with an investment of US $300m. The initiative also seeks to anticipate strategically the regional market, by creating LNG infrastructures, in order to capitalise on business opportunities.
