Mozambique Extends Bidding for Oil & Gas Blocks

Mozambique has extended by over three months a licensing round for 15 new offshore and onshore blocks for gas and oil exploration and production, a senior government official said on Monday.

When the blocks were unveiled in October, the government said bids would be accepted until Jan. 20, 2015.

That has now been extended until April 30 because of the level of interest and company requests for additional time, Arsenio Mabote, chairman of the National Petroleum Institute, told Reuters.

The blocks on offer include three new areas of the northern Rovuma Basin, where U.S. oil major Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Italy's Eni are already developing multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas (LNGLF) (LNG) export projects.

Mozambican officials expect more than $30 billion will be invested initially in the natural gas sector to build capacity to produce 20 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG), with first exports due to start in 2018.

Mozambique is hoping revenue from its large natural gas deposits and its fledgling coal mining industry will help it emerge from years of poverty and aid dependence. (Reporting by Manuel Mucari