Italian energy giant Eni and its partners have confirmed development of the Coral North floating liquified natural gas (FLNG) project, putting Mozambique on track to become one of Africa’s leading LNG producers, reports Reuters.
Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi signed the final investment decision alongside Mozambican President Daniel Chapo in Maputo last Thursday. The new state-of-the-art FLNG facility will be implemented by a joint venture between Eni (50 percent) and CNPC (20 percent), along with Korea Gas Corporation, ADNOC subsidiary XRG and Mozambican state-owned oil company ENH (the latter three hold 10 percent each).
A twin to the Coral South FLNG, which launched operations in 2022, the new platform will double LNG output in Mozambique to over 7 million tons annually. It is scheduled to start operations in 2028.
“Coral North will more than double the benefits for the country – it is projected to generate US$23 billion in tax revenues, create even more jobs, increase national suppliers and assign US$3 billion in contracts to local companies,” Descalzi said at the ceremony.
[See more: Samsung is preparing to start work on a second FLNG platform for Mozambique]
Coral North will sit in the northern part of the Coral Field (Area 4) of the Rovuma Basin, an area that went largely overlooked until recently. Eni has played a central role in its development, initiating exploration in 2006 when the area was still considered as “non-attractive.” Less than a decade later, the company had discovered vast natural gas resources in the basin’s Coral, Mamba Complex and Agulha reservoirs, totalling around 2.4 trillion cubic metres of gas in place.
Coral South was the first project to take advantage of these reserves, and the first large-scale FLNG delivered in ultra-deep waters worldwide. Experience gained on that project will “offer competitive advantages in terms of schedule, costs, performance optimisation, and minimisation of execution risks” on its sister to the north, the company noted.
The Coral Field projects have neatly avoided the issues with insurgent violence that has plagued TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil, both of which include onshore facilities in the volatile Cabo Delgado province.
Total is eager to return, having abandoned its US$20 billion Mozambique LNG project in 2021 following a deadly terrorist attack. Sources say the government is expected to lift the force majeure on the project, clearing the way for construction to restart. Exxon Mobil, which was impacted due to shared facilities, is seeking security assurances as it weighs its own investment decision.