Construction of Mozambique's first cooking gas production unit, in Temane, in the southern province of Inhambane, is progressing significantly and production should begin next year.

The unit will have a capacity of 23 million Gigajoules of natural gas per year, which will result in 30,000 tons of LPG cooking gas per year.

The production of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) will satisfy around 70 percent of the country's needs, also opening up the possibility of exporting to countries in the region, in an investment budgeted at 760 million dollars.

The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Carlos Zacarias, speaking in Niassa province, was quoted by "Notícias" as saying that the unit will boost the national program to increase the use of LPG.

Without giving details of the stage of the work, the government official said that this unit would also add value to the profitability of natural gas, helping to reduce imports.

As a side effect of the project, business opportunities are expected to be created throughout its value chain, from production, transportation and storage, to distribution and resale to the public.

During the construction phase, the plant is expected to generate up to 3,000 jobs.

It is known that the project is the result of a production sharing contract between the South African multinational Sasol, which operates the Pande and Temane natural gas fields in Inhambane province, the National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH) and the state-owned electricity company, EDM.

The investment for this project is budgeted at 650 million dollars to generate 450 Megawatts of energy.