Mozambique’s National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH) needs US$150 million to build gas transportation, storage and regasification infrastructure between Beira and Inhassoro, the president of the state-owned company said on Saturday.
“About US$150 million is what we need to invest to complete the whole project,” ENH President Rudêncio Morais told journalists on the sidelines of the 11th Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy.
The infrastructure, provided for in the concession contract approved in December 2025, will be built at the port of Beira, in Sofala province, central Mozambique, and in Inhassoro, in Inhambane province in the south. It will include a pipeline system linking the latter area to the existing gas pipeline in Temane.
The project will allow gas produced in northern Mozambique to be transported to the central and southern regions. It will have the capacity to receive around four million tonnes per year, according to Rudêncio Morais.
Development will take place in phases, beginning with environmental impact and feasibility studies and the preparation of a development plan, which must be submitted to the Government within a maximum of 18 months. Following approval, ENH expects around two years for the engineering, procurement and construction of the infrastructure.
ENH expects the infrastructure to be completed between 2028 and 2030, in line with the expected increase in gas production from the Coral Norte project.
Financing will be structured through a project finance model, with around US$10 million available for the initial phase.
“We are looking at it from a ‘project finance’ perspective. In other words, we have to structure the project so that it can finance itself,” Morais explained, adding that the available funds will allow the initial phase of the project to move forward.
ENH also plans to develop infrastructure to increase natural gas consumption in the domestic market, including connections for household and vehicle supply, as well as connection points between the main pipeline and secondary networks.
“Our initial view is that Mozambique must have the infrastructure needed to have domestic gas and contribute to the country’s industrialisation process,” the ENH president said, arguing for stronger national capacity to absorb the gas produced in the country.
Established in 1981, ENH participates in all oil and gas operations and the various stages of exploration, exploitation, production, refining, transportation, storage and marketing of hydrocarbons and their derivatives, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) and gas-to-liquids (GTL), both inside and outside the country.
ENH has share capital of 749 million meticais (€10 million), fully subscribed by the Mozambican State. The company operates under the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy and its main objective is to conduct petroleum activities, “namely the prospecting, exploration, development, production, transportation, transmission and marketing of hydrocarbons and their derivatives”, including imports and exports.
Mozambique has three approved megaprojects for the development of LNG reserves in the Rovuma Basin, off Cabo Delgado, which are considered among the largest in the world. One of these projects is operated by TotalEnergies and another by ExxonMobil, with a capacity of 18 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and an investment of US$30 billion (€26.1 billion). It is awaiting a final investment decision, with both projects located in Afungi.
The third is the Italian company Eni’s project, which has been producing around 7 mtpa since 2022 from the Coral Sul floating platform. Production will be doubled from 2028 with the Coral Norte platform, in an investment of US$7.2 billion (€6.2 billion).