Mozambique Energy Minister Appointed Ahead of Huge Gas Deals

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has appointed businesswoman Leticia Klemens as his new energy minister, just weeks after Maputo and Italy's Eni signed a 20-year deal to sell BP liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Mozambique's official news agency AIM said Klemens was chairwoman of Mozambique's largest commercial bank, the International Bank of Mozambique, and also headed the Association of Mozambican Businesswomen.

Her predecessor Pedro Couto was removed in late September and appointed as president of Mozambique's Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power company.

The southern African state discovered offshore gas reserves six years ago amounting to some 85 trillion cubic feet, one of the largest finds in a decade and enough to supply Germany, Britain, France and Italy for nearly two decades.

Eni and Mozambique should by the end of this year reach a final investment decision on a project to build a floating offshore platform with a capacity to produce 3.3 million tonnes a year of LNG from gas in the Coral South field.

The Coral field is part of the huge reserves discovered six years ago in the Area 4 concession off the Mozambican coast.

Writing by Ed Stoddard