Galp Energia, natural gas in Mozambique

Portuguese group Galp Energia has the financial capacity to invest in gas production in Mozambique and has no plans to sell its 10 percent stake in the consortium that is prospecting in the Area 4 block, the group?s chief executive said.

?A 10 percent stake is a lot but we have capacity to make the investments needed for natural gas exploration and have no plans to sell off that stake,? said Manuel Ferreira de Oliveira at the group?s results presentation.

In an analysis published two weeks ago, Portuguese bank Caixa BI said that the Galp Energia group may not have the financial capacity to be part of the project as the return is smaller than that of an oil project and had considered selling of part of its 10 percent stake.

However, Ferreira de Oliveira did not discount the possibility of an operation similar to the one carried out in Brazil, where it sold a 30 percent stake in Petrogal Brasil to Chinese group Sinopec.

ENI is the operator of the Area 4 block, with a 70 percent stake (the sale of a 20 percent stake to the China National Petroleum Corporation ? CNPC requires approval from the Mozambican authorities), and its partners are Portuguese group Galp Energia, South Korea?s Kogas and Mozambican state oil and gas company, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), each with a 10 percent stake