Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi appointed businesswoman Leticia Klemens as his new energy minister, just weeks after the capital city of Maputo and Italy's Eni signed a 20-year deal to sell LNG to BP Plc (NYSE: BP).

Mozambique's official news agency AIM said Klemens was chairwoman of Mozambique's largest commercial bank, the International Bank of Mozambique, and also headed the Association of Mozambican Businesswomen.

Her predecessor as energy minister, Pedro Couto, was removed from the job in late September and appointed as president of Mozambique's Cahora Bassa hydroelectric power company.

The southern African state discovered offshore gas reserves six years ago that amount to about 85 trillion cubic feet. These reserves are one of the largest finds in a decade and are enough to supply Germany, Britain, France and Italy for nearly two decades.

Eni and Mozambique should, by the end of 2016, reach a final investment decision on a project to build a floating offshore platform with capacity to produce 3.3 million tonnes per year of LNG from gas in the Coral South Field, which is part of the huge discovery of reserves in the Area 4 concession.