Mozambique’s government is considering a proposal by a group of United States businessmen to build a $1,3-billion oil refinery in the Southern African country, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The proposed refinery at Nacala, a port city in the north, would be the first of its kind in Mozambique, which has relied entirely on imports of oil products since a refinery in the capital Maputo was shut down years ago.
The Nacala development would create about 400 jobs.
”We are analysing an ambitious oil refinery project in northern Mozambique presented by American business people,” the official said on condition of anonymity. ”It will be submitted to the council of ministers very soon for approval.”
The official did not identify the US business group.
Mozambique’s government has liberalised foreign investment rules in the energy sector in a bid to rebuild and diversify its agriculture-based economy, which was devastated by a civil war that followed independence from Portugal in 1975.
Oil exploration slowed to a trickle during the conflict as foreign investors looked elsewhere in Africa. A number of companies have begun exploring for oil and natural gas in Mozambique since the end of the war in the early 1990s.
Analysts have said that Mozambique has more potential as a gas producer and could find itself in a position to export supplies to its neighbours, including Malawi and South Africa.
Mozambique’s state-owned oil firm Petromoc dominates the distribution and marketing of fuel products and lubricants in the country, with a few foreign firms competing in the sector. – Reuters