Bloomberg: Task of Guiding Mozambique Gas Boom Handed to ‘Technocrat’ Couto

Mozambique’s new government, appointed Jan. 17 by President Filipe Nyusi, features an enlarged energy ministry as the southern African country strives to transform its economy by developing natural-gas discoveries.

Former Deputy Finance Minister Pedro Couto heads up an energy ministry that now includes the mineral resources portfolio. He must oversee the export of electricity production from the Cahora Bassa 2,000-megawatt hydroelectric power plant, the award of new oil and gas licenses and seek new markets for Mozambican coal.

Couto is “very professional, very technocratic,” Peter Heilner, managing director of sub-Saharan Africa-focused investment bank Civitas Partners, said by e-mail from Johannesburg.
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