The economist João Mosca says that the hypothesis of Mozambique responding to the growing needs for gas in Europe, put forward by the National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH), is nothing more than political propaganda, because the situation of insecurity in Cabo Delgado is no guarantee that the production and export of this resource will start on schedule.

The commercial administrator of ENH, Pascoal Mocumbi Júnior, quoted by the Mozambique Information Agency (AIM), said that with the war situation in Ukraine, the European market has increased the demand for gas, adding that one of the ways to speed up so that Mozambican gas reaches the markets is to use a second floating platform similar to the one that is already in Mozambique.

Mocumbi pointed out that "with the amount of gas existing in Mozambique, the country automatically positions itself as an alternative to supply the need that exists today, and the faster the country is able to place its gas on the market, the greater the possibility of taking advantage of the current crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

But João Mosca questions this hypothesis, because in 2030 gas could be extracted by these floating platforms, but not in sufficient quantities to solve any kind of problem in Europe or other parts of the world, replacing Russian gas.

Mosca said this is why pipelines are being built very quickly from some Arab countries in North Africa, such as Algeria, and also pipelines are being built within the European distribution system.

"This means that the answers will not be immediate even in the next few years, and speaking of 2023 would be very optimistic," stressed that economist quoted by VOA, adding that even if exports are normal, there are a number of major aspects of logistics that have to be done from the land; so all this is political talk and propaganda, nothing concrete."