The Coral Sul project, developed in Area 4 of the Rovuma basin, in Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, has already carried out 58 export shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) since November 2022.
The executive director for Research and Production at the National Hydrocarbons Company (ENH), Rudêncio Morais, said that of the total shipments, 18 were made this year, adding that the project is boosting the development of the country’s energy matrix.
‘In the middle of last year, the country reached an average of four to five vessels a month leaving Cabo Delgado for the international market, and the need arose to take even greater advantage of the opportunities created,’ he said.
He emphasised that ‘companies must create the conditions to multiply LNG production in Mozambique. ENH is available to promote gas in a transition process and contribute to the use of clean energies”.
‘Gas can help energise other sectors of the national economy, such as agriculture, and result in millions of dollars for the state coffers,’ he stressed.
The Coral Sul platform, located around 30 kilometres from the Palma district and with capacity to produce 3.3 million tonnes of LNG a year, is operated by Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV), a joint venture co-owned by ExxonMobil, Eni and CNPC (China), which has a 70% stake in the concession contract. Galp, Kogas (South Korea) and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (Mozambique) each have a 10 per cent stake.
Last November, the representative of the Italian energy company ENI in Mozambique, Giorgio Vicini, revealed that the exploration of natural gas by the Coral Sul floating platform has already contributed 6.5% to the increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and that from October 2022 to May 2023 it will channel 34 million dollars in revenue into the state coffers.
Mozambique has three development projects approved for the exploitation of natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, all located off the coast of Cabo Delgado province.
Two of these projects are larger and involve channelling the gas from the seabed to land, cooling it in a plant and then exporting it by sea in a liquid state.
One is led by TotalEnergies (Area 1 consortium) and work progressed until it was suspended indefinitely after the armed attack on Palma in March 2021, when the French energy company declared that it would only resume work when the area was safe. The other is the still unannounced investment led by ExxonMobil and Eni (Area 4 consortium).
A third completed, smaller project also belongs to the Area 4 consortium and consists of a floating platform for capturing and processing gas for export, directly at sea, which started up in November 2022.
