State-owned upstream company ONGC’s overseas arm ONGC Videsh ltd (OVl), Oil India ltd (OIl) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation ltd (BPCl) - which together hold 30 pc stake in Mozambique’s giant Rovuma Area-1 gas field - will invest $6 billion for its development in the next four years. The investment will be primarily made for converting gas into lNG for export to nations like India, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.
Rovuma Area-1 is estimated to hold recoverable gas reserves of up to 75 trillion cubic feet. “We have invested more than $6 billion so far (in the Mozambique field) and another $6 billion will be invested by 2019 to develop Rovuma Area-1 field,” Pradhan said during an industry event.
The Petroleum Minister on April 12 returned from a two-day visit to Mozambique. An estimated $18.4 billion will be required to bring first set of discoveries in Rovuma Area-1 on to production and convert that gas into liquid (liquefied natural gas or lNG) for ease of shipping to consuming nations like India.
He said that the first lNG shipment from the block is targeted for 2018-end or early 2019. The project with capacity to produce 20 million tonnes of lNG annually would be the world’s largest lNG export site after ExxonMobil-run Ras laffan in Qatar.
OVl had in 2013 bought Videocon’s 10 per cent stake in the Rovuma Area-1 for $2.4 billion. It followed this up by acquiring another 10 per cent stake in the same field from Anadarko Petroleum Corp of the US for $2.64 billion. The 10 per cent stake of Videocon was split in 60:40 ratio with OIl.
“I had a very successful tour to Mozambique. We are getting full cooperation from the Mozambique government for early development and monetisation of Rouvma Area 1,” Pradhan said. The Minister further informed that the block consortium is talking to Indian buyers like state gas utility GAIl for selling lNG.
“If it fetches more money (to us) by selling the lNG then and there itself, we will opt for that. But if it is beneficial to bring the gas to India, we will certainly look at that option,” he said. Rovuma Area-1 Offshore Mozambique Block (Block Area 1) is located along the coasts of northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.