MAPUTO, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Mozambican President Filipe Nyusihas appointed businesswoman Leticia Klemens as his new energyminister, just weeks after Maputo and Italy's Eni signed a 20-year deal to sell BP liquefied natural gas(LNG).
Mozambique's official news agency AIM said Klemens waschairwoman of Mozambique's largest commercial bank, theInternational Bank of Mozambique, and also headed theAssociation of Mozambican Businesswomen.
Her predecessor Pedro Couto was removed in late Septemberand appointed as president of Mozambique's Cahora Bassahydroelectric power company.
The southern African state discovered offshore gas reservessix years ago amounting to some 85 trillion cubic feet, one ofthe largest finds in a decade and enough to supply Germany,Britain, France and Italy for nearly two decades.
Eni and Mozambique should by the end of this year reach afinal investment decision on a project to build a floatingoffshore platform with a capacity to produce 3.3 million tonnesa year of LNG from gas in the Coral South field.
The Coral field is part of the huge reserves discovered sixyears ago in the Area 4 concession off the Mozambican coast. (Writing by Ed Stoddard, editing by David Evans)
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