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Mozambique gears up for first LNG export from Eni’s Coral South project

The first LNG cargo from Mozambique’s 3.4 million mt/year Coral Sul floating LNG vessel is poised to sail in the next few days, marking a milestone for the southeast African country.

The British Sponsor tanker is currently loading a cargo at the FLNG facility, according to data from Platts cFlow ship tracking tool from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Italy’s Eni, the main operator of the Coral South project, confirmed this on a recent analyst call.

“As you know, we have produced the first LNG in Coral and we are completing the ramp-up to achieve the first cargo that is forthcoming,” said Guido Brusco, chief operating officer at Eni’s Natural Resource division, on an analyst call Oct. 28.

Coral South — which moved to a final investment decision in 2017 — is based on the 450 Bcm of resources in the Coral field in Area 4 offshore Mozambique.

Eni’s upstream partners in Area 4 are ExxonMobil, China’s CNPC, Portugal’s Galp, South Korea’s Kogas and Mozambique’s ENH.

BP will take the entire volume of LNG produced at Coral South under an initial 20-year contract that was signed with Eni and Area 4 partners in 2016.

More than 30 million mt/year of LNG production capacity is envisaged in Mozambique, but the fledgling LNG industry has been held back by the growing Islamist insurgency that began in October 2017.

The Coral South LNG project is one of three LNG developments in Mozambique, but is the only offshore project, meaning it has been shielded from the insurgency.

In late March 2021, dozens of people were killed during attacks on the town of Palma, prompting France’s TotalEnergies in April to declare force majeure on work at its nearby 13.1 million mt/year Mozambique LNG project.

The ExxonMobil-led 15.2 million mt/year Rovuma LNG project, meanwhile, remains on hold with no final investment decision yet.

Both are located in northeastern Mozambique, close to the town of Palma and around 60 km from the port town of Mocimboa da Praia, which until recently was occupied by insurgents.
Source: Platts

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