Eni, CNPC team up for Mozambique LNG project
By LIAM MOLONEY and SELINA WILLIAMS
LONDON—Eni SpA, Italy's biggest oil and energy company by volume, has the expertise to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Mozambique that will allow the large natural gas discoveries in the East African country to be shipped to energy-hungry Asian countries.
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) will share in the costs to build the LNG plant in Mozambique after it signed a deal to buy a 20% stake in Eni's massive offshore gas field, Eni's head of exploration and production , Claudio Descalzi, told reporters at a conference in London.
Eni said it agreed to sell the 20% stake to CNPC for $4.21 billion, in a deal that will leave it with a 50% stake in the Area 4 field. The Rome-based company is open to reducing its stake further in the field if a deal will give greater solidity to the project, said Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni at the same conference.
The maximum tax amount that Mozambique will take on the CNPC sale price is 10%, said Mr. Descalzi, when ask by an analyst. Mr. Descalzi also said he was not aware of Mozambique officials wanting a bigger share of the price it will receive from the Chinese company.
Dow Jones Newswires
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