Three Chinese banks are interested in funding an US$8 billion gas pipeline from Mozambique to South Africa, Bloomberg says, citing an adviser to the Mozambican developer, African Renaissance Pipeline Lda (ARP).

The adviser, Kwasi Agbley, said Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and the China Development Bank had formally expressed interest, the news agency reported last week.

The report says ARP counts among its shareholders Mozambican state-owned oil and gas company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos EP and Chinese state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co. Ltd.

The pipeline will run 2,600 km from natural gas fields in northern Mozambique to South Africa, the report says.

It says construction due is to begin by 2024.

ARP has so far received expressions of interest from potential buyers of enough gas to take up nearly 60 per cent of the capacity of the pipeline, Bloomberg quotes Mr Agbley as saying.