Cape Town, South Africa, 5 Nov – Mozambique plans to explore the methane gas in its coal mines with estimates pointing to reserves of over 1 trillion cubic feet, the chairman of state oil and gas company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) said Thursday in Cape Town.

During a conference on oil resources in Africa, Nelson Ocuane said that his company would contact large companies involved in coal exploration in Mozambique, such as Brazil’s Vale and Australia’s Riversdale Mining, in order to get their help to survey them ethane gas.

“The concept of commercial production of methane gas at coal mines is gaining ground,” Ocuane said, adding that expectations for tapping of that gas in Mozambique’s case stood at over 1 trillion cubic feet.

Ocuane also said that the expansion of production facilities at Pande and Temane would be concluded in 2011, taking production from 120 million gigajoules currently to 183 million gigajoules.

The chairman of ENH said that proven reserves of natural gas in Mozambique stood at around 3 trillion cubic feet and mentioned that there were estimates that pointed to reserves of 20 trillion cubic feet.

Lastly, Ocuane announced it was likely that the Mozambican government would open up more areas for oil prospecting to international bidding within the next two years, “probably sooner,” in order to attract further investments to the sector. (macauhub)