$1.3 bn in capital gains tax?

Exxon Mobil and Qatar Petroleum oil have joined efforts to prepare the purchase of assets of US company Anadarko and Italy’s ENI in Mozambique, Bloomberg reported on 6 July. It estimated that the capital gains tax on the sale could be $1.3 bn, which would substantially ease the current fiscal crisis. The two have had joint projects for 15 years, but no final decision has been made yet. The two have the huge financial resources necessary to go ahead with the multi-billion dollar gas liquification trains that are part of the project.Exxon already has interests north and south of this area. It won three offshore exploration licenses in Mozambique in October for blocks to the south of the Anadarko and Eni finds. And it has a working interest in Statoil ASA’s Block 2 in Tanzania, north of the Rovuma Basin.The Financial Times (7, 8 July) said that ENI wants to cash in on some of its exploration successes and sell stakes in some major projects, including Mozambique. ENI CEO Claudio Descalzi said he hopes to sell some of the Mozambican gas field this year. There is a very good map of the gas field, showing how it straddles the border between areas 1 (Anadarko) and 4 (ENI) and the line of the proposed pipeline on http://clubofmozambique.com/news/eni-eyes-mozambique-stake-sale-by-the-end-of-2016/

+ Government confirms that diamonds have been found, particularly in Massangena, Gaza, in the Save River valley near the Zimbabwe border, which is downstream from the main Zimbabwe diamond mines. Mozambique intends to join the Kimberley Process and a team will arrive in September to evaluate Mozambican compliance.