New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS): India and Mozambique Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the oil and gas sector for a period of five years, the petroleum ministry said in a statement.

The MoU was signed at a meeting here between Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Mozambique's Minister of Foreign Affairs Oldemiro Julio Marques Baloi.

Indian public sector companies have participating interest in Mozambique's gas fields.

"Both the countries have traditional links which have grown from strength to strength over the years," Pradhan told the visiting foreign dignitary, the statement said.

The union cabinet had on Oct 29 approved the MoU between both countries. It seeks cooperation in oil and gas in both upstream and downstream sectors in the areas of enhancing capacity-building, forging closer cooperation between research and training centres and intensifying technology transfer, among others.

"Mozambique is strategically located near India and is ideally suited for bringing natural gas to India at market-determined price. Participation of indian energy companies in the project will facilitate access to LNG for the growing Indian gas market," the cabinet approval read.

Mozambique plans to produce 34 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually from its biggest gas field - the Rovuma Area 1 offshore block - where state-run ONGC Videsh Ltd, Oil India and Bharat Petroleum Corp have bought 30 percent stake and will also participate in the LNG project.

Ten LNG terminals are likely to be set up, each with a yearly capacity of five million tonnes of gas.

US-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp is the Rovuma 1 project operator. Other partners include Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos EP of Mozambique, Mitsui of Japan and PTT Exploration and Production of Thailand.

India currently has 18,000 MW of power capacity lying idle due to gas shortage, with another 10,000 MW in the pipeline awaiting commissioning.