Written by Paul Burkhardt and Andre Janse van Vuuren  | From Bloomberg

South African and Mozambican state-owned investment companies have joined with SacOil Holding Ltd.  to study a $6 billion pipeline from a natural-gas field off the northern coast of Mozambique.

They will evaluate the technical and commercial feasibility of developing a 2,600-kilometer (1,616 miles) pipeline to supply the region, the Public Investment Corp., the Instituto de Gestao das Participacoes do Estado and Johannesburg-based SacOil said in a joint statement today.

The pipeline will en route to South Africa “deliver gas to key towns and settlements in all provinces of Mozambique,” according to the statement.

The field being developed off Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Eni SpA  is the largest natural gas find in a decade. It could make Mozambique the third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, after Qatar and Australia, with deliveries targeted from 2018.

The pipeline will likely run from Mozambique to the northeastern port of Richards Bay from where it will be diverted to South Africa’s central Gauteng province, SacOil’s Chief Executive Officer, Thabo Kgogo, said by phone. Construction of the pipeline is likely to start in three years, pending the outcome of a pre-feasibility and subsequent feasibility studies, Kgogo said.

“I don’t think there will be any serious disruptions to the market,” Kgogo said. “We’re looking more at current needs.”

Read more at Bloomberg