Legal instrument strengthens the regulatory role of the INP and consolidates State participation in the oil sector
The Assembly of the Republic approved the Oil Law, an instrument that updates the legal framework for oil operations in Mozambique and strengthens the mechanisms for regulating, monitoring, transparency and maximizing the national benefits arising from the exploitation of oil and gas resources.
The Law introduces predictions that strengthen the status of the National Petroleum Institute (INP) as a Regulatory Authority for Oil, giving it greater supervisory and sanctioning powers, while consolidating the State's participation in the petroleum sector.
The legal instrument responds to the need to modernise the industry framework, taking into account the evolution of the oil industry, the challenges of the energy transition and the importance of ensuring greater legal predictability, competitiveness and attractiveness, safeguarding the protection of the public interest and the effective participation of the State in oil operations, towards the economic independence of the State.
According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the INP, Nazário Engineer Bangalane, the approval of the Oil Law represents an important milestone for the sector, in that "it strengthens the capacity of the State to regulate, monitor and monitor, with greater technical rigor, oil operations, ensuring that resources are exploited responsibly, transparently and for the benefit of national development".
Among the main innovations is the strengthening of the regulatory and technical capacity of the INP, which acts as the Regulatory Authority for Oil, with supervisory, regulatory, supervisory and sanctions. The Law also assigns INP increased responsibilities to control recoverable costs, monitoring budgets per concession area, managing concessions and monitoring compliance with approved contracts and plans.
He adds that the new legal framework "gives greater clarity to the role of the regulator and creates the necessary conditions for more efficient, preventive and result-oriented action, without losing sight of the protection of the public interest, the security of operations and the stability necessary to attract responsible investment".
The Law also reinforces the role of the National Hydrocarbon Company, E.P. (ENH), as a representative of the State in oil and petroleum aggregate operations, ensuring a participation of at least 15% non-dilutable, as well as its participation in the concession contracts and in the marketing of the oil and gas quota, of at least 25%, for the domestic market and the industrialization of the country.
With this new legal framework, Mozambique takes another step in the consolidation of a more transparent, predictable, competitive and investment-oriented oil industry. The INP, as the Oil Regulatory Authority, will be responsible for ensuring technical regulation, exempt and aligned with the best practices of the oil industry.
The new instrument will enter into force after its promulgation and publication in the Bulletin of the Republic.
