Maputo, Feb. 24, 2026 (Lusa) - Oil and gas exploration earned the Mozambican state $88.13 million (€74.7 million) in 2025, accumulating $252.82 million (€214.4 million) since 2022, according to official data.
According to information on budget execution from January to December 2025, the accumulated revenue for 12 months amounted to $31.67 million (€26.8 million) from Mining Production Tax and $56.46 million (€47.9 million) from the “Oil Profit” component, attributed to the Mozambican state.
It should be added that for the period 2022 to 2025, the data "reveals the structural predominance of oil profits as the main source of value generation for the State", the part of the oil produced that exceeds the "cost oil", while production bonuses remain a "residual and contingent component", with $7 million (€5.9 million) in the first year.
Under the legislation that created the Mozambique Sovereign Fund (FSM), which will be fed with 40% of natural gas revenues, the document also states that between 2022 and 2025, transfers made by the Tax Authority directly to the Single Treasury Account (CUT) of the State Budget will total $33.65 million (€28.5 million). This amount, deducted from the total collected, results in $219.17 million (€186.3 million) as total revenues deposited in the Transitional Account (before the FSM becomes operational).
The information highlights that the "distribution of amounts deposited" in the transitional account and allocations to the State Budget "show a consistent upward trend", totalling $103.03 million (€87.3 million) from 2022 to 2025, including $47.10 million (€39.9 million) in the last year.
As for allocations from the transitional account to the FSM, which began operating and being managed by the Bank of Mozambique last November, "an equally robust trajectory" is noted, with a cumulative transfer of $116.14 million (€98.5 million).
"This shows the general trend of strengthening the sovereign savings component, reflecting the gradual implementation of the FSM regulatory framework and the internalisation of fiscal rules that seek to balance current public financing needs with the accumulation of long-term assets," the document reads.
From the "revenue distribution structure, it can be seen that the largest share is allocated to the SMF," which is justified by the fact that the amount allocated to the budget quota (60%) "is calculated based on projected revenues."
This is because the legislation that established the sovereign fund provides that "if the revenues received during a fiscal year exceed the projected amounts to be allocated to the State Budget" for that year, the excess is transferred to the SMF.
On 15 December 2023, the Mozambican Parliament approved the creation of the FSM, with revenues from natural gas exploration expected to reach $6 billion (€5.123 billion) annually in the 2040s. The fund was established in April of the following year and, since then, amendments to the legal framework have provided for the allocation of 40% of tax revenues and capital gains from gas and oil exploration, with the remaining 60% to finance the State Budget.
Mozambique has three approved mega-development projects for the exploration of gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, ranked among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado, including one by TotalEnergies, for 13 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), which is in the process of resuming after suspension due to terrorist attacks in the region, and another by ExxonMobil (18 mtpa), awaiting a final investment decision, both on the Afungi peninsula.
In addition, in the ultra-deep waters of the same basin, Area 4, the consortium led by Italy's Eni, which has been operating since 2022 at the Coral South floating unit and is moving forward with the second Coral North unit, which will start production in 2028.
PVJ/ADB // ADB.
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