Mozambique reviews oil and gas laws to boost local benefits

Mozambique has started a process to review and modernize the southeast African nation’s legal framework for mining, oil and gas, in an effort to improve local benefits.

The government intends to increase transparency, while ensuring that natural resources are managed efficiently and benefit all Mozambicans, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Estevão Pale said in a statement on Monday.

“We want legislation that promotes the processing of part of our resources in the country, a key element for expanding the value chain, creating opportunities for self-employment and employment, generating income and developing new industries,” Pale said.

The government plans on presenting lawmakers with new legislation, including updated rules to govern local content, by the end of the year, he said.

Mozambique has some of Africa’s biggest natural gas riches, as well as vast coal deposits, but remains one of the world’s poorest nations where nearly three in four people live on less than $2.15 a day.

Poverty has bred frustration, in a population where almost a third of young people are unemployed and out of training or school, which boiled over into months of deadly unrest following disputed October elections.

The protests, in which local monitoring group Decide Platform estimated that at least 361 people died, impacted some mining companies and periodically closed a key border crossing with neighboring South Africa.

(By Matthew Hill)