Reuters: Mozambique to offer new oil and gas licences after law rejig

Mozambique's parliament has passed an amended petroleum law that will allow the government to issue new gas and oil exploration licences but it also requires investors to partner with the state oil firm, the mineral resources minister said on Friday.

The revised law will come into effect by the end of the year and bidding rounds for concessions would be held in the coming months, oil sector officials said.

U.S. oil major Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Italy's Eni are developing multi-billion-dollar liquified natural gas (LNG) export projects in Mozambique's northern offshore Rovuma basin. Smaller companies are also exploring.

Under the new legislation, foreign operators who win licences to explore for oil and gas must do so in partnership with state oil company ENH. The law also says that 25 percent of all LNG produced should go to the domestic market.

The southern African state, which still bears the scars of a devastating 1975-1992 civil war, is hoping revenues from its large natural gas deposits and its fledgling coal mining and export industry, will help it emerge from years of poverty and dependence on foreign donors.

Minister of Mineral Resources Esperanca Bias said the previous 2001 hydrocarbons legislation had needed to be updated to reflect developments in the sector. MORE