Page 12 - AfrOil Week 42 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

Mozambique expects to dispatch first

LNG export cargo by end of October

MOZAMBIQUE MOZAMBIQUE is on track to export its first Africa.
LNG cargo from the Coral field, located off the BP (UK) has signed an agreement making
coast of the country’s northernmost Cabo Del- it the sole off-taker of LNG from the Coral Sul
gado province, by the end of October, Macao FLNG vessel over a period of 20 years. Accord-
News reported on October 19. ing to previous reports, the super-major was
The publication, based in a special adminis- originally slated to take delivery of its first
trative region of China, quoted Mozambique’s cargo in August, but the shipment had to be
Finance Minister Max Tonela as saying to the rescheduled.
Portuguese news agency Lusa: “We hope that Eni discovered the Coral field at Area 4 in
before the end of October the first export of 2012 and made an FID in favour of going for-
LNG produced by Mozambique will take place.” ward with the $10bn Coral South LNG project
Lusa noted that natural gas from the Coral in 2017. The other shareholders in the project
field was already being processed into LNG for are Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV), a
the upcoming shipment but did not provide any joint venture owned by Eni, ExxonMobil (US)
further details. However, TradeWinds reported and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC);
separately, citing data from Kpler, that BP-op- Galp (Portugal); KOGAS (South Korea), and
erated tanker known as the British Sponsor ENH, the national oil company (NOC) of
had arrived at the Coral natural gas field as of Mozambique.
October 16. It also quoted anonymous sources Strong European demand has already led
as saying that the 173,644-cubic metre ship had Eni to expand the scope of the Coral South LNG
not yet loaded any LNG and would probably project. The Italian major said recently that it
carry out a number of trials and dry runs before was planning to add a second floating LNG facil-
doing so. ity so that it could expand production within less
The cargo will eventually be loaded on the than four years.
tanker at the Coral Sul floating LNG (FLNG) The project is as yet not directly affected by
facility installed at the Coral field by Eni (Italy) an Islamist insurgency in Cabo Delgado. That
and its partners in an international consortium conflict has, however, disrupted two larger pro-
established to explore and develop a section of jects – Mozambique LNG, led by TotalEnergies
the offshore block known as Area 4. (France), and Rovuma LNG, led by ExxonMobil
The FLNG vessel, which has a production (US).
capacity of 3.4mn tonnes per year (tpy), will TotalEnergies began work on its project
be used to process 450bn cubic metres of gas several years ago but suspended operations in
from the Coral reservoir within Area 4. It is March 2021, following a series of armed attacks
the first floating gas liquefaction plant ever to near the site of its onshore processing facility on
be deployed at a deepwater field off the coast of the Afungi Peninsula.

The Coral Sul FLNG will load the cargo on BP’s British Sponsor tanker (Photo: SHI)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 20•October•2022