Mozambique has the potential to be the world’s third-largest LNG exporter after Qatar and Australia, but massive investment is needed including developing an entirely new port. Its own ports and railways company CFM estimates it will cost $US20-25 billion to build the infrastructure it already has planned – far more than the country’s entire 2012 GDP of $14.2 billion.
Majors like BP, Chevron and Eni have already invested in the country’s gas fields, which are some of the biggest discovered in the past decade.
Investment has also been driven by oil demand in Africa which is expected to “rise significantly” over the next 20 years courtesy of population growth, urbanisation and an emerging middle class.
PwC said Mozambique had “massive” potential underpinned by its vast natural resources, but cautioned that it would take some time until the benefits spread through the whole economy.
Chinese government entities are supporting the funding and construction of a host of individual infrastructure projects in Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana and South Africa. PwC said this Chinese involvement is making it easier for other foreign investment to operate in Africa, while also positioning China to take advantage of future growth in African markets.
Recent discoveries of gas offshore Tanzania and a broad number of planned infrastructure projects promise to further boost its economy, but PwC warned that increased development would lead to greater congestion at the Port of Dar es Salaam. However, the construction of a $10 billion port at Bagomoyo will alleviate this once it begins operating in 2017.
PwC said corruption remained a major obstacle facing investors in Tanzania, even though less severe than in neighbouring Kenya. Its ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index in 2012 ranked it higher than most of its African peers, though still low at 102 out of 174 countries.
While transactions worth some $1 billion occurred every 17 days on average in Africa’s oil and gas sector in 2013, PwC said the continent faced fierce competition for vital investment from other parts of the world.
Nearly 9 million barrels of crude were produced every day in 2013, more than 80% of which came from established players such as Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Angola. This is even more concentrated in gas, with nine tenths of annual natural gas production, totalling 6.5 trillion cubic feet, coming from Nigeria, Libya, Algeria and Egypt.
