Italian petrochemical company Eni SpA has announced that investment decisions on the ‘Coral Norte’ project, which will be developed in the Rovuma basin, Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, could be taken this quarter, stressing that it has already received ‘more than enough’ interest.
‘Eni SpA has received more than enough interest for its next floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique, even as international creditors face increasing pressure to reduce exposure to fossil fuels,’ explained Luca Vignati, Eni’s Business Director.
Quoted by Bloomberg, he stressed that ‘while oil projects face increasing challenges in finding financing as the world moves towards decarbonisation, gas is a cleaner-burning fuel and seen as part of the energy transition’.
‘There are guarantees of funding from international institutions and early investors. The reliable production of Coral South gives banks confidence in the Coral North plant,’ he added. Luca Vignati also said that the government could approve the project in the coming weeks.
The project ‘will be a replica of Coral South’, located 50 kilometres off the coast and connected to six underwater wells at a depth of 2,000 metres. Area 4 will thus produce seven mtpa (million tonnes per year).
A previous report drawn up by the Mozambican firm Consultec for Eni pointed out that ‘Coral North’ will require an investment of 7 billion dollars, subject to approval by the Mozambican government.
Thus, if the schedule goes according to plan, the platform will begin production in the second half of 2027, meaning it could start up even before the onshore projects, which depend on security implications due to the armed insurgency in Cabo Delgado.
The same document pointed out that the Coral North platform will be stationed ten kilometres north of Coral South, whose production started in November, making it the first project to take advantage of the large reserves in the Rovuma basin.
For its part, the environmental pre-feasibility study said in March that between drilling the wells and start-up, the project is expected to employ up to 1,400 people, but these will mainly be specialised foreign professionals. During the operation phase there will be up to 900 jobs, with more opportunities for Mozambican workers.
Eni SpA has received more than enough interest for its next floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique, even as international creditors face increasing pressure to reduce exposure to fossil fuels
Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves of 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.
