US oil company Exxon Mobil expects the first export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Mozambique later this year. Reuters writes that this was stated on Tuesday (24) by Exxon Mobil’s LNG head, Peter Clarke, at the World Gas Conference being held in South Korea.
The 3.4 million tons per year Coral LNG project is operated by Italy’s ENI, which processes natural gas from Area 4 resources in the Rovuma Basin off the coast of Mozambique.
Last month, oil company Exxon Mobil announced that it may make a final investment decision in Mozambique when France’s TotalEnergies lifts the “force majeure” clause it activated to suspend its natural gas project in the north of the country, a source in the Mozambican government told Lusa.
According to the same source, the information was provided by Exxon Mobil’s vice president for Africa, Walker Keinsteiner, during a meeting in Washington with Mozambique’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Max Tonela, in a statement on the subject: “we will resume the FID [final investment decision] process as soon as the declaration of force majeure is lifted.
At the same meeting, Exxon maintained that the development of natural gas projects in Mozambique is a “priority”, expressing satisfaction with the progress made in the fight against armed groups in the province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, with gas reserves that are among the largest in the world.
According to the same Mozambican government source, the vice president of Exxon Mobil for Africa noted that the progress achieved by the joint forces of Mozambique, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Rwanda in the fight against armed groups that carry out attacks in the north of the country gives confidence for the creation of a favorable environment for the development of natural gas projects.
“This gives us confidence, we are pleased and we are encouraged,” he said, quoted by the same source.
In the same context, Walker Keinsteiner also expressed optimism about the prospect of the return of populations forced to flee their areas of origin in the districts affected by armed violence.
