Mozambique has already raised US$206 million (13 billion meticals) since the start of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, produced by the Coral Sul platform in ultra-deep waters in the Rovuma basin, in the northern region of the country.
‘This project is proof that Mozambique has the potential to host more initiatives of this nature,’ said Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Estêvão Pale at the end of a visit to the floating LNG processing, storage and offloading unit located in Area 4, more than 60 kilometres off the coast of Cabo Delgado.
Area 4 is operated by Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV) – a consortium owned by Eni, ExxonMobil and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) – which has a 70% stake in the Concession Agreement for Exploration and Production.
Coral Sul FLNG, the first floating facility of its kind on the African continent, has a gas liquefaction capacity of 3.55 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and plans to produce 450 billion cubic metres of gas from that reservoir.
Estevão Pale
Pale recalled that since production began in November 2022, 104 shipments have already been made, in a project with an investment of around seven billion dollars.
‘In total, the country has collected US$206 million, of which US$65 million relates to taxes on oil production, US$134 million to oil profits and US$7 million in production bonuses,’ he said.
“We expect that in the future, the gains for the country will be in the order of US$1.3 billion per year. This is significant for our balance of payments,” added Estevão Pale.
Since the start of exploration, according to official data, in addition to around US$19 million spent on social responsibility projects, around US$819 million has been spent on Mozambican companies, with 1,337 Mozambican workers on the platform, mainly young people.
Coral Sul FLNG, the first floating facility of its kind on the African continent, has a gas liquefaction capacity of 3.55 million tonnes per year (mtpa) and plans to produce 450 billion cubic metres of gas from that reservoir.
In January, the chief executive of oil company Eni, Claudio Descalzi, assured President Daniel Chapo that he plans to expand operations in the LNG project in the Rovuma basin, ‘projecting Mozambique onto the global stage’ for natural gas. At the time, the head of the Italian company made a ‘commitment to further strengthen collaboration’.
The government recently announced the approval of a US$7.2 billion (approximately 540 billion meticals) investment for the Coral North project, which is expected to produce 3.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), with production scheduled to start in 2028.
Consultancy firm Deloitte estimates that natural gas reserves located in Mozambique represent potential revenues of US$100 billion, highlighting the country’s international importance in the energy transition process.
Mozambique has three approved development projects for the exploration of natural gas reserves in the Rovuma basin, ranked among the largest in the world, all located off the coast of Cabo Delgado province.
Two of these projects are larger in scale and plan to channel gas from the seabed to land, cooling it in a factory before exporting it by sea in liquid form.
One is led by TotalEnergies (Area 1 consortium) and work had 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 an investment yet to be announced led by ExxonMobil and Eni (Area 4 consortium).
A third, smaller project has also been completed by the Area 4 consortium and consists of a floating platform for capturing and processing gas for export directly at sea, which started in November 2022.
