Oil and gas deals hit US$31 billion

 The chairperson of Mozambique’s National Hydrocarbon Company, Omar Mitha has said total projected investment in natural gas operations in the Rovuma Basin, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, now stands at US$31 billion, APA can report on Thursday.Mitha said most of this will be consumed in Rovuma Basin Offshore Area One, where the operator is the American company Anadarko.Addressing a Maputo media conference launching the celebrations of the 35th anniversary of ENH on Thursday, Mitha said that about US$4 billion has already been invested and the figure for Area One could reach $24 billion in the coming years.He broke this sum down as US$5.6 billion for the preliminary exploration, US$10 billion for building two gas liquefaction plants, US$3.3 billion for later development studies, US$4.4 billion in interest and bank fees, and US$2.6 billion as contingency funds.Mitha expected Anadarko and its partners to make the final investment decision in the first quarter of 2016, which will then be followed by financial closure with banks financing the project.He estimated that building the gas liquefaction facilities will take five years as from 2016.