The agreement was signed between French oil and gas company Total, and the South African Gigajoules group. The agreement was signed by the Chairperson of Gigajoule, Johan de Vos, and the representative of Total in Africa, Philip Olivier.

Chief Executive Office of the Matola Gas Company (MGC), Bruno Morgado, said the major benefit from the agreement will be greater availability of gas, because the fields at Pande and Temane (in Inhambane province) will begin to decline in a more or less rapid manner.

“A further benefit from importing LNG will be the take-off of the Beleluane thermal power station. This is a large scale project that will generate up to 2,000 megawatts of power. There wasn’t enough gas for this,” said Morgado.

The project envisages a floating unit, anchored permanently in the port of Matola that will store and regasify the LNG. A start will be made on installing this unit in June 2020. It should be completed in 16 months. A pipeline will run from Matola port to the planned new power station in Beluluane, using the MGC’s existing infrastructure.

The power plant upon completion, is expected to supply power to Botswana and Eswatini, as well as to Mozambique and South Africa. Mozambique would become hub, selling gas on to island countries such as Madagascar and Mauritius.