Mozambique's first LNG sets sail

Mozambique joins the ranks of LNG exporters, but interest in further exploration is weak

Good afternoon. Mozambique is now an LNG exporter, President Filipe Nyusi announced yesterday in an address to the nation. The Eni-operated Coral Sul FLNG project has waved off the tanker carrying the country’s first cargo of LNG — the long-awaited dawn of a new era of Mozambique as a gas exporter.

The Coral Sul floating LNG platform loads its first cargo of LNG onto a tanker which sailed away yesterday, 13 November 2022

Almost concurrently we were given a vision into Mozambique’s possible future as a hydrocarbons producer. On Friday, the national petroleum institute closed bidding on the latest round of exploration blocks — and announced that the bidding had been dominated by China. Eni is bidding on one block, but China’s CNOOC is the only bidder on the other five.

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President Filipe Nyusi is in Cabo Delgado today, meeting with displaced people returning to Mocímboa da Praia before launching the latest agricultural season in Pemba. Elsewhere in Cabo Delgado, however, insurgent activity is, if anything, spreading — with new attacks reported in the south, west, and north of the province. While security may be returning for the gas projects, the same cannot be said for rubies and graphite.

The deputy foreign minister, meanwhile, is on his way to Russia, to continue a series of bilateral talks instituted in 2016 and 2018. The geopolitical backdrop has of course shifted dramatically in the last year, but Mozambique is clearly happy to be seen to be maintaining normal relations with Russia. In a further sign of its openness to Putin’s worldview, regime newspaper Notícias today runs an opinion piece by Russia’s ambassador to Mozambique, Alexandre Surikov, repeating Russian propaganda about how it is combatting Nazism in Ukraine.

This stance will not go down well with Mozambique’s western allies; however, there may be some value in Mozambique continuing to maintain a neutral stance. Russia’s recent U-turn to allow the export of grain from Ukraine has been credited by some analysts as being thanks to its desire to keep African allies on-side. Mozambique is a particularly important African ally as it is currently sitting on the UN Security Council. While Russia should be unequivocally condemned for its invasion of Ukraine, there may be value in Mozambique retaining the ear of Moscow.

And finally: LNG is not the only new commodity Mozambique is set to start exporting. A rubber plantation in Zambezia is also gearing up for its first exports, scheduled for next April. Read on — or become a paying subscriber — for more.

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Agenda:

• Today: President Nyusi in Cabo Delgado

  • First in Mocímboa da Praia, where he will distribute kits of agricultural inputs

  • Then in Pemba for the launch of the agricultural season

• Tomorrow-Thursday: Deputy foreign minister Manuel Goncalves on a three-day visit to Russia, for the second session of a bilateral Intergovernmental Commission established in 2016 and which had its first session in Maputo in 2018

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From the Zitamar Live Blog:

Mozambique’s first LNG shipment departs from Coral Sul FLNG

Just two bidders on Mozambique’s latest oil and gas exploration block auction

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💥 Conflict updates:

12 November 2022: Muripa, Balama district, Cabo Delgado

Reports suggest at least one person was beheaded in Muripa, just 7km from Balama district headquarters. This is the first attack in Balama district

13 November 2022: Litapata, Muidumbe district, Cabo Delgado

Up to two people were killed in an insurgent ambush on a garrison guarded by the Mozambican Armed Defence Forces and the local militia who were forced to withdraw. One of those killed was a civilian who was beheaded

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Also in the news:

• Nyusi ‘pardons’ more ‘terrorists’ — after explaining that’s not what he’s doing

• Zambezia rubber plantation to start exporting next year

• New passenger train to link Maputo with Eswatini