MACAUHUB NEWS SUMMARISED FOR MOZAMBIQUE From 03rd September to 10th September 2013 Italian group ENI finds more natural gas in Mozambique September 3rd, 2013 Italian oil and gas group ENI has found more natural gas in the Area 4 block of the Rovuma basin, in northern Mozambique, after drilling the Agulha test well, the National Oil Institute (INP) said Monday in Maputo. According to a statement cited by the Mozambican press, preliminary results show that the area where the Agulha well was drilled may contain between 5 and 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The well is located in the south of Area 4, around 80 kilometres from the coast and the aim of drilling it was to survey and test for hydrocarbons in a geological sequence that is older than that of the Mamba Complex. The concession holders of Area 4 of the Rovuma basin are ENI East Africa, which is the operator and has a 41.43 percent stake after selling 28.57 percent to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Mozambican state company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), with 28.57%, and Portugal’s Galp Energia and South Korea’s Kogas, each with 10 percent. Last week, Mozambique’s Tributary Authority said that the Italian group had paid US$400 million in capital gains tax and agreed to build a power station in the Palma district, of Cabo Delgado province, worth US$130 million, to have its deal with the Chinese group approved. Norway’s Statoil drills new test well in Mozambique but finds no oil The Búzio-1 test well drilled by Norway’s Statoil in Area 2 of the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique, has been closed as no trace of hydrocarbons was found, British company Tullow oil said. In a statement published Monday, Tullow Oil said that Búzio-1 was the second test well drilled in the block, and the previous one, Cachalote-1, found natural gas with no commercial value. Tullow Oil has a 25 percent stake in Area 2 of the Rovuma basin, and Norway’s Statoil is the operator with a 40 percent share. The remaining partners are Japan’s Inpex with 25 percent and Mozambican state company, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) with the remaining 10 percent. Over 80,000 people visit Facim, Mozambique’s largest trade fair Some 82,000 people visited the 49th edition of the Maputo International Fair (Facim), which ended Sunday, which was a 26 percent rise compared to the 65,000 visitors received by the fair in 2012, the organisers said. According to the Institute for Export Promotion (Ipex), which is responsible for organising Facim, 10 contracts were signed for exports of Mozambican products, which were announced by provinces. Nampula will export 20 tons of shrimp per year to South Africa and 100 tons of squid to the United Kingdom, Ihambane will also sell 500 tons of tapioca per year to South Africa and 400 tons of fresh chilli peppers to the UK and Zambézia will export 300 tons of coking coal to South Africa and 300 tons of tea to India. Companies and organisations from 22 countries and territories exhibited at Facim this year, which was four more than in 2012, and the new countries were Sweden and Japan, of a total of 1,398 national and 650 foreign exhibitors. Speaking about the fair, the chairman of Ipex, João Macaringue, said that around US$420 million needed to be spent to that the fair in Ricatla, in the Marracuene district, had proper facilities. “The work we are doing includes small improvements to accommodate our exhibitors whilst we don’t reach our goal,” said Macaringue, according to Mozambican newspaper O País. The chairman of Ipex also said that once the necessary work is carried out, the facility will have multifunctional areas that can be used for activities other than trade fairs. Fishing production in Mozambique exceeds 190,000 tons Fishing production in Mozambique currently stands at over 190,000 tons of a variety of products, which is within the parameters set in the master plan for the sector, of reaching 300,000 tons a year by 2019, according to a report in newspaper Notícias. At a meeting held last week to analyse the sector, an announcement was made that the country’s fishing production had risen from 150,000 tons in 2009 to 190,000 in 2012 and that epr capita consumption had risen from 7.83 kilogrammes three years ago to 10.41 kilogrammes last year. The newspaper also reported that the rise in production achieved by 2012 was mainly due to an increase in fish farming, or aquaculture, as industrial fishing fell. This may be related to increased inspections and patrols by the authorities to ensure sustainable fishing. In 2012, Mozambican fish exports totalled S$62.7 million, as compared to sales of US$65.6 million in 2009, although in 2010 and 2011 foreign exports provided income of US$68.8 million and US$77.9 million, respectively. Mozambique spent US$47 million in 2012 as compared to US$37 million three years before on fish imports, particularly horse mackerel, one of the most popular fish in urban areas. At the meeting, Fishing Minister Victor Borges, noted that taking into consideration the development of the main indicators of the master plan, everything pointed to production of 300,000 tons of fish and per capita consumption of around 11 kilogrammes by 2019. Mozambican Tributary Authority calls for creation of Sovereign Fund with capital gains revenues September 4th, 2013 Mozambican Tributary Authority (AT) has proposed a Sovereign fund or a Macroeconomic Stabilisation Fund be set up using revenues from capital gains taxes charged on the sale of Mozambican assets by foreign companies, Mozambican newspaper O País reported. In a statement published in Maputo, the AT said that good international practices recommend that revenues from capital gains taxes be used to set up one of these funds or to be channelled into an investment bank in order to feed the domestic economy rather than funding public expenditure, as has so far been the case. According to the newspaper, the AT’s statement also suggested approval of rules for applying capital gains revenues. “No decision can be made lightly and a public debate is needed, involving civil society, which will end with a legislative proposal drawn up by the proper authorities, to drive construction, in an appropriate timeframe, of an intelligent instrument to manage those resources,” said the statement published by the Tributary Authority. Four more coal mining projects due to be launched in Mozambique September 5th, 2013 Four more coal mining projects re due to begin between 2014 and 2019 in Mozambique’s Tete province, representing total investment of US$5.1 billion, the country’s Mining Resources Minister, Esperança Bias said in the town of Manhiça. At the start of the 28th Coordinating Council of the minsitry, Bias said that in 2014 the Minas do Revobué and Midwest Africa projects were due to be launched, with total investment of US$1.504 billion, followed by the Zambeze project, of Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto, the biggest of the four and requiring investment of US$3.3 billion with expected production of 258 million tons of thermal and coking coal per year as of 2019. Cited by daily newspaper Notícias, the minister said that the list of approved coal mining concessions ended with the Ncondezi project, with initial investment of US$288 million and expected production of 7.2 million tons of coal per year. Approval of the four projects comes at a time when Mozambique is seeing a lot of progress in prospecting and surveying for a variety of minerals. Prospecting is underway for heavy sands in Jangamo and Xai-Xai, in the provinces of Inhambane and Gaza, respectively. Prospecting and surveying is also underway for graphite in Balama, Cabo Delgado province, when around 564 million tons of graphite have so far been identified and studies point to the possibility of annual production of 220,000 tons of graphite concentrate per year, following estimated investment of US$120 million. Feasibility and environmental impact studies are also underway for the titanium-magnetite project in Chitongue, Tete province, with reserves estimated at 270 million tons, with expected annual production of between 1,000 and 2,000 tons, and due to begin in 2016. Operating profit of Kenmare Resources in Mozambique falls 85 pct in 1st half to US$6.8 million Operating profit posted by Kenmare Resources from its heavy sands project in Moma, Mozambique, fell by 85 percent to US$6.8 million in the first half of the year due to increased production costs, a drop in prices, and lower demand on the international market, the company said in a statement. According to financial information for the first six months of the year, Kenmare Resources posted turnover from the sale of heavy minerals concentrates, ilmenite and zircon, US$79.2 million, which compares to US$109 million in the same period of 2012. It posted a loss of US$10.2 million against a profit of US$38.7 million in the January to June period of 2012. In the first half of the year the company increased its production of heavy minerals concentrate (480,000 tons against 386,200 tons in the same period of 2012) and ilmenite (302,600 tons against 276,600 tons), but lowered its zircon production from 23,600 tons to 19,100 tons. Despite a rise in production, exports of Kenmare’s products fell from 321,500 tons in the first half of 2012 to 294,100 tons in the same period of 2013. The report also said that in July of this year the company produced 80,000 tons of ilmenite, which was a significant increase against the previous months due to the start of operations at the processing plant built for Phase II of the project’s expansion. Lack of electricity prevents construction of cement plant in Sofala province, Mozambique A cement plant with annual production of 500,000 tons is due to be built in the Muxúnguè area of the Chibabava district of Mozambique’s central Sofala province, the country’s President, Armando Guebuza, said Tuesday cited by Mozambican news agency AIM. At a meeting with residents of Maxixe, a municipality in Inhambane province, Guebuza noted that if electricity was available the cement plant, a result of cooperation with China, would already have been set up in the region. “There is an abundance of limestone in the region, which is the main raw material used to manufacture cement, and the only thing lacking was electricity,” said Guebuza. The President said it was possible that a gas pipeline would be built from the natural gas fields in Temane, in the coastal province of Inhambane, to feed the new cement facility. Ports of Nacala in Mozambique, and Leixões in Portugal, sign cooperation agreement Mozambican company Portos do Norte (PN), which manages the port of Nacala, in northern Mozambique and Portugal’s Administração dos Portos do Douro e Leixões (APDL) , Thursday in Maputo signed a business cooperation agreement that includes training, according to Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias. Citing a statement, the newspaper said that cooperation would also boost sea links between the ports of Leixões and Nacala, promoting good port management pricatices and offer internships and training. In the first year of the agreement, of a total three, the focus will be for APDL to provide PN support to assess the IT systems installed at the port of Nacala. APDL will also offer support to PN in the areas of management, strategic alignment, team motivation and management and creating conditions to provide a 120 to 140-hour training course organised in and for Mozambique for port strategy and management. Natural gas exploration in Mozambique expected to provide annual revenues of US$10 billion September 6th, 2013 Exploration of the natural gas found in the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique, may bring in annual revenues of over US$10 billion, the Mining resources Minister, Esperança Bias said Wednesday. The minister noted that so far over 75 trillion cubic feet of gas had be found in Area 4 and another 95 trillion cubic feet of natural gas had been found in Area 1 and added that a plan was being drawn up for its extraction and processing. According to the minister, who was speaking at the opening session of the Coordinating Council for her ministry, the four natural gas processing units, which will have a combined capacity of 20 million tons, would provide annual revenues of over UUS$10 billion. Bias also said that the natural gas found so far, which makes Mozambique one of the top 10 countries with most natural gas reserves, would allow for installation of additional gas liquefaction units and other industries that use natural gas as a raw material. The minister also said that the government was drawing up a Natural Gas Master Plan which, as well as outlining and identifying potential for the resource, would establish which were the best ways of using it to maximise its benefits for Mozambique. Italian group ENI open to selling 10 pct of oil block in Mozambique Italian group ENI has announced it is open to sell a further 10 percent of the stake it owns in the Area 4 block of the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique, according to UK newspaper the Financial Times. The newspaper said that the group’s chief executive, Paolo Scaroni, said there were no plans to reduce the 50 percent stake the group owns in the block but added that, “if some gas buyer shows interest we are prepared to sell another 10 percent.” A few months ago, the ENI group sold a 28.57 percent stake in ENI East Africa Mozambique to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for US$4.2 billion, which gave the Chinese group a 20 percent stake of the Area 4 block. The original partners of the Area 4 block of the Rovuma basin, which was handed over as a concession in February 2007, were ENI (70 percent), Portugal’s Galp Energia and South Korea’s Kogas (10 percent) and Mozambican state oil and gas company, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), with the remaining 10 percent. Following the sale the ENI group reduced its stake to 50 percent, the CNPC had 20 percent and the remaining partners kept their initial stakes. This week the National Oil Institute said that ENI had discovered more natural gas in the block after drilling a test well that found estimated reserves of 5 to 7 trillion cubic feet of gas. With this new discovery the group has found estimated reserves of 87 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which is enough to supply a country like Great Britain for 30 years. Port of Nacala in Mozambique expected to handle 1.5 million tons of cargo in 2013 The cargo handled at the port of Nacala, in the Mozambican province of Nampula, is expected to total 1.5 million tons this year, after totalling 1.3 million tons in 2012, according to figures published in Maputo by the port’s management company Portos do Norte. Figures published by the company, which has managed the port since last March, showed that by the end of July the port had handled 1 million tons of cargo, which was an increase of 42.8 percent compared to the 700,000 tons registered in the same period of 2012. The figures were published moments after an agreement was signed by Portos do Norte (PN) Portugal’s Administração dos Portos do Douro e Leixões (APDL), which included training for workers at the Mozambican port. Emílio Dias, the chairman of the board of the Portuguese port of Leixões, said that his port had one of the biggest port training centre in Portugal and that in the last few years it had trained at least 10,000 people from Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP). He said that the first group of Portuguese technicians was due to arrive in Nacala Monday to provide training in IT management. European banks manage bond sale for Mozambique Mozambican state agency Ematum has mandated the BNP Paribas and Credit Suisse banks to organise a debt issuance of US$500 million in Treasury Bonds with a seven-year maturity, financial news agency Reuters reported. The bond issuance, which may be included in the J.P.Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index (EMBI), which ended Thursday had higher demand than supply and will pay out a yield of around 8.5 percent. Mozambique has a rating of “B+” from Standard and Poor’s and Fitch Ratings, but this debt issuance was not rated. Seminar discusses “internal challenges” of construction sector in Mozambique The “internal challenges” of the construction sector in Mozambique are due to be analysed at an international seminar organised by the Mozambican Federation of Contractors (FME), next week in Maputo, the FME said. The seminar is intended to start a conversation about “the role of national resources in the current economic context,” marked by large investments in the construction sector, the federation said in a statement sent to Macauhub in Maputo. The seminar, which will be held on 12 September, as well as by representatives of the main construction companies, will also be attended by members of the government and construction sector associations from other countries. “The chosen theme [Building using local resources] for this seminar is intended to highlight the need to optimise the domestic climate for the construction sector, making use of all the local sector players,” said the statement. In the first half of 2013, the Mozambican Centre for Investment Promotion (CPI) approved 20 projects in the area of Construction and Public Works, worth a total of US$82 million, which may create over 3,000 jobs. Mozambican government orders 30 ships from France September 9th, 2013 The Mozambican government has ordered construction of 30 ships from Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie, of Cherbourg, France, costing a total of 300 million euros, Lebanese businessman Iskandar Safa, who owns the shipyard, said Friday. The order includes building 24 trawls, three 32-metre patrol ships and another three 42-metre ships, said Safa as he announced the order, at a session attended by three ministers, including Arnaud Montebourg, who is responsible for industrial reconversion in France. According to the shipyard’s owner, CMN has annual turnover of between 50 and 100 million euros. Safa added that this order was part of a contract that the Safa group signed with Mozambique that includes the same number of ships to be built at shipyards in Germany and Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Port of Beira in Mozambique to have new dock A new dock is due to be built in the port of Beira, in Mozambique’s Sofala province, as part of investments scheduled to increase the port’s cargo processing capacity, said the chief executive of Cornelder de Moçambique. Carlos Mesquita, the CEO of the port’s management company, also said that the new dock would be 600 metres long and have fertilizer and container terminals. Cited by Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias, Mesquita said that the investments were intended to prepare the port to meet growing demand in Mozambique and from neighbouring countries. “We are about to sign a contract with the contractor to start work that is due to finish within 18 months, which means that by the end of next year we will be ready to start operating,” said Mesquita. Construction of the fertilizer terminal is expected to cost US$17 million and the terminal will have capacity for 1.3 million tons of fertilizer per year, in an initial phase. Mining in Mozambique increases by 34 pct in 1st half The amount of minerals mined in Mozambique rose by 34 percent year on year in the first half of this year, the country’s Mining Resources Minister Esperança Bias said. Cited by Mozambican news agency AIM, the minister did not specify if the rise was by weight or value, but added that in 2013 the sector’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was expected to be 2.9 percent. “Despite the floods at the beginning of the year, which made coal transport difficult along with the unfavourable scenario on the international market for some mining products, overall production in the first half rose by 34 percent year on year driven by rutile, tourmaline, clays, diatomite, limestone and gravel,” said Bias. At the closing session of the 28th Coordinating Council of the Mining Resources Ministry, the minister said that in 2014 overall production is expected to grow by 7.9 percent compared to this year, based on coal and minerals mined at heavy sands projects in Moma and Angoche. African Mines and Exploration buys 80 pct of Mozambican company Matilda Minerals September 10th, 2013 African Mines and Exploration (AME) has agreed to buy an 80 percent stake of Matilda Minerais Limitada, a private Mozambican company that mines heavy sands, the company said in a statement issued Monday. Matilda Minerais has an exploration license in Jangamo, with an area of 180 square kilometres, next to the Matumba heavy sands deposits, and whose license is owned by Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto. Under the terms of the agreement AME will make a cash payment that is the equivalent of the amount invested in the project so far to a maximum of 125,000 Australian dollars and payment in shares to the value of 400,000 Australian dollars after receiving 80 percent of shares in Matilda Minerais. The remaining 20 percent may be sold later or diluted into the project after conclusion of the definitive economic viability study. AME also said it expected to invest 450,000 Australian dollars in exploring the only asset owned by Matilda Minerals in the first year after acquisition of its stake in the Mozambican company. African Mines and Exploration is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. Mining revenues should be used to solve Mozambique’s problems, official says Revenues from exploring mining resources in Mozambique should be used to solve the country’s problems rather than for anything else, the spokesman for the Mining resources Ministry said in Maputo. Cited by the Mozambican press, Custódio Nguetana said that Mozambique was not in a position to “get hold of the money and keep it in a bank,” to create a Sovereign Fund or Macroeconomic Stabilisation Fund or to finance a development bank. Creating these funds or a development bank was a proposal made recently by Mozambique’s Tributary Authority at a press conference to explain the formula used to calculate the tax applied to the sale by Italian group ENI of a stake in an oil block in the Rovuma basin to the China National Petroleum Corporation. After this sale, the Italian group agreed to pay the Mozambican authorities US$400 million in cash and spend US$130 million on building a thermal power plant in the north of the country. Nguetane said that Mozambicans should first “solve the country’s real problems, either from an infrastructure point of view, or from a social point of view,” and added that when there “are no longer problems with health, education etc., then the money can be put in the bank.” South Africa’s has eye on natural gas exploration in Mozambique The chief executive of South African petrochemical group Sasol, David Constable, said Monday in Johannesburg that natural gas prospecting in Mozambique was being “closely followed.” The South African group, which is already involved in extracting natural gas in Inhambane province, “is analysing with other entities the way of helping transform the natural gas fields in the Rovuma basin, in northern Mozambique, into revenues.” “I think we will be a part of it in an, as yet, unspecified way, but very likely in gas processing,” said Constable adding that the group was following the process closely, especially as the gas deposits are far out at sea and their exploration is expensive. US group Anadarko Petroleum and Italy’s ENI recently have discovered large natural gas reserves in the two blocks they operate in the Rovuma basin. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Sasol group, as well as being interested in expanding its business in Mozambique, is also interested in exploring shale gas deposits in the South African semi-desert region of Karoo. Macauhub News Agency Address: Av. Infante D. Henrique, 43-53 A The Macau Square, 8th Floor – L Macau Phone: (853) -28355315/6 Fax: (853) -28355466 E-Mail: [email protected]
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 06:34:13 +0000
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