Petroleum Operations Regulations

On 31 December 2015, it entered into force the Decree 34/2015 which enacts the Regulation of Petroleum Operations (hereinafter “ROP”) and repeals the Decree 24/2004 of 20 August.

To stress that the Law 21/2014 which eneacts the Petroleum Law and came into force on 18 August 2014, the Article 70th provided that it was for the Government which was in charge of regulating the matters of the Petroleum Law, within 60 days from the date of its publication.

Thus, the ROP was waited with enough expectation and came into force with a delay of more than one (1) year in relation to the deadline set out in the Petroleum Law.

In terms of new developments brought about by the ROP, we would highlight the following:

• The ROP came to set an amount of MT 40,000,000 Meticais (forty millions) which shall be carried out by public tender for the acquisition of goods and services by the petroleum right holders.
• This was one of the issues that needed to be clarified given that the Petroleum Law only states the need of public tender above a certain established amount, but did not indicate same.
• Regarding the demobilization, the ROP came to lay down that the concessionaires shoul open a bank account before a bank of their choice and approved by the Bank of Mozambique, an interest bearing account to be named “Demobilization Fund”, in which periodic deposit funds will be made to cover the costs for demobilization.
• The safety and security zone was increased from a maximum of 200 meters to a maximum of 500 meters on each side of its limits where there are implemented infrastructures; and
• The ROP came to expressly set that the petroleum operations must comply with the national technical standards accepted in the oil industry, such as the International Standard Organization, American Society of Mechanic Engineers e American Petroleum Institute.

Paulo Ferreira

Lawyer