Mozambican oil company Petróleos de Mozambique (Petromoc) could climb out of its “financial struggles” in 2021, and its operational results may already improve in 2020, said a source from the Institute of State Shareholding Management (Igepe).

The source also told daily newspaper Notícias that the company’s liabilities had already been “successfully” restructured with the banks, adding that, “we are gradually improving the financial situation and therefore, if all goes well, we will solve the problem in 2021.”

The chairman of Petromoc, Hélder Chambisse, confirmed to the newspaper that several measures had been implemented to carry out the internal restructuring of the company, ranging from cost reduction, increased sales and finding new customers in order to improve the performance of the state company.

In February the Council of Ministers discussed and on Tuesday adopted two resolutions that ratify the terms of guarantees issued by the government to banks that operate in the country so that Petromoc can have access to financing for importing fuel.

The spokesman for the Council of Ministers, Filimão Swazi, said that the guarantees were issued in favour of the Millennium bim and Banco Comercial de Investimentos banks although he did not disclose the amounts involved.

The board of Petromoc said in August 2019 it needed “several million dollars” to be able to normalise the company’s activities on the Mozambican market.

Petróleos de Moçambique, a public company founded in 1977, two years after the country’s independence, has as its shareholders the Mozambican state, with 60%, IGEPE with 20%, while the remaining 20% is in the hands of technicians and workers of the company. (macauhub)