The African Development Bank has approved a long-term senior loan of $400 million to support the building of an LNG plant that will bolster ‘Mozambique’s ambition to become global LNG player’.
The Mozambique LNG Area 1 Project, which is ranked as Africa’s single largest Foreign Direct Investment to date, is being driven forward by a group of international players led by Total alongside Mitsui, Oil India, ONGC Videsh Limited, Bharat Petroleum, PTT Exploration, as well as Mozambique’s national oil and gas company ENH.
The LNG liquefaction plant will have a production capacity of 12.88 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The project is the first of several LNG trains expected to undergo development in the northern part of the country.
In a statement issued this week, the African Development Bank said that it is joining ‘a global syndicate of commercial banks, development finance institutions, and export credit agencies’ that are supporting the project.
The African Development Bank Group President Akinwumi Adesina said: ‘Working closely with the Government of Mozambique, we can ensure that the local population reaps the benefits from its nascent natural gas value-chain, thus creating growth opportunities and widespread industrialization, while at the same time accelerating regional integration across Southern Africa.’
The Bank statement added: ‘The Project has already signed eight long-term off-take contracts with some of the world’s most prominent LNG players, including Bharat, Centrica, China offshore state-owned oil & gas producer CNOOC, Taiwan’s CPC Corporation, Electricite de France EDF, JERA, Pertamina, Shell, Tohoku Electric, and Tokyo Gas.’
