Regional demand for oil and gas logistics could start gushing

The potential of gas and oil reserves discovered off South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique has attracted the interest of global oil companies because it is becoming more difficult to

find economically viable reserves of oil and gas. Mozambique is the first to attract major investment, with billions of dollars due to be invested in processing plants for deposits in the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique – the area that was most affected by the

recent cyclones, and attacks by Islamist militants. Anadarko has signed sales and purchase agreements for almost 10mn t/yr of the 12.88mn t/yr capacity of its project, keeping it on course to meet its objective of taking a final investment decision (FID) before the middle of the year.

An “important announcement” in this regard has been promised for June 18. ExxonMobil has said it also plans to make an FID for its facility in 2019. These investments will be the spark for major developments that project cargo specialists

in Mozambique have been preparing for since the discovery of the reserves a decade or so back. South African and Namibian companies are going to have to wait a while longer as the reserves that have been confirmed are not sufficient at present to attract investment.