Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, the state- owned producer known as PetroVietnam, plans to invest about $85 million in a gas project in Mozambique, according to the head of Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos.

“We are talking with them, they are willing to invest and we are also inviting other foreign investors who are interested in the project,” Nelson Ocuane, chief executive officer of Mozambique’s national hydrocarbons company, said in a phone interview.

Oil and gas projects have been identified in the Rovuma basin in northern Mozambique and Pande gas fields in Inhambane province, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) north of the capital of Maputo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Katerere via the Johannesburg bureau at Fed Katerere in fkaterere@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 23, 2009 22:37 EDT