CONTRACT FOR SALE OF GAS TO EDM

Mozambique’s National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH) will sell two million gigajoules of natural gas a year to the publicly owned electricity company, EDM, which will be used to generate power at the Ressano Garcia thermal power station (CTRG), on the border with South Africa.A contract to this effect was signed in Maputo on Monday by the chairpersons of the two companies, Nelson Ocuane of ENH and Gildo Sibumbe of EDM According to an ENH press release, the contract is for the 2015-2017 period, and is renewable. The release did not disclose how much EDM will pay for the gas.The CTRG, built at a cost of 250 million US dollars, was inaugurated in August, and is 51 per cent owned by EDM and 49 per cent by the South African petro-chemical giant Sasol.It can generate 180 megawatts, which represents 23 per cent of the total energy consumed in the country, and 42 per cent of the power consumed in the southern region (excluding the Mozal aluminium smelter).CTRG ends the power deficit, of about 150 megawatts, in southern Mozambique, and eliminates the need to import power from South Africa, which was costing EDM about 26 million dollars a year.The gas comes from the fields at Pande and Temane in Inhambane province, which are operated by Sasol. EDM is the largest consumer in Mozambique of the Inhambane gas. The gas is already used to generate electricity for the districts in the north of Inhambane, and EDM is described as “a strategic client” for the Maputo and Marracuene Gas Distribution Network, inaugurated by President Armando Guebuza in September, and now in its second phase of implementation. The ENH release declares that the company “is a pioneer in the distribution of natural gas on the Mozambican market and has been committed to increasing the consumption of this energy resource to promote the country’s growth”.