Mozambique will have new legislation for exploration of natural gas reserves and exports of liquid natural gas (LNG) are expected to reach consumer markets in 2018, as planned, Mozambique’s Energy Minister said Tuesday.

On the sidelines of the 22nd World Energy Congress, in Daegu, South Korea, from 13 to 17 October, Minister Salvador Namburete said that the legislation that is due to be approved would set out “the rules of the game.”

“Legislation will be approved before the end of the year and is needed so that investors can know what to expect,” Namburete said.

US group Anadarko Petroleum and Italy’s ENI have announced that natural gas reserves discovered so far in two blocks in the Rovuma basin, in northern Mozambique, totalled 170 trillion cubic feet. They have decided to set up joint facilities to process the gas.

Last week, state company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) said it planned to launch the fifth auction of oil and gas blocks by the end of the year, but the schedule requires the new oil law to be approved beforehand. (macauhub)