Mozambican state oil and gas company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) wants to increase its share in the blocks operated by US group Anadarko Petroleum and Italy’s ENI, said the company’s director for engineering projects, Paulino Gregório.

Recognising that the company has financial limitations, Gregório told financial news agency Bloomberg that it was studying how best to increase its stake in the two blocks where huge natural gas deposits have been found.

Mozambique has enough natural gas reserves to supply the world for over two years according to ENH, which owns 15 percent of the block operated by the US group and 10 percent of the four blocks operated by ENI.

The two groups plan to build four units for natural gas processing and liquefaction in northern Mozambique with annual capacity of 20 million tons. The units are expected to start operating in 2018 and the project requires investment of US$20 billion. (macauhub)