The activities of companies exploring for hydrocarbons in Mozambique will in the near future be subject to an independent audit to assess their contribution to the development of local companies, within the scope of local content.
According to an article published this Monday, 18 November, by the newspaper Notícias, the audits are also aimed at assessing the degree of compliance of the companies with established policies and regulations, as well as the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the government to promote local content. To achieve this goal, the National Petroleum Institute (INP) has just launched an international public tender to select a specialised company to carry out the inspections.
According to the INP, the company to be hired will assist the institution in the development of auditing and analysis processes, in order to verify the degree of compliance with the legislation and the Approved Development Plan, in the contracting of the supply of goods and services, labour, training, succession and knowledge transfer.
The selection and the entire contracting procedure for the specialised company will be carried out in accordance with the Regulations for the Contracting of Public Works Contracts, the Supply of Goods and the Provision of Services to the State, approved by Decree no. 79/2022 of 30 December.
The oil and gas sector is one of the most important and strategic industries in many economies around the world, playing a leading role in economic development by supplying essential energy resources and generating substantial revenues for the government and the companies involved.
However, in order to maximise the socio-economic benefits derived from the sector, many governments and regulators implement policies that require a significant percentage of local content in the operations of companies in the industry.
In the first nine months of this year, the state collected 134.6 million US dollars (8.5 billion meticals) in revenue from oil and natural gas exploration.
