In Mozambique, Eni has announced that a final investment decision is expected from partners on the deep-water Coral South floating liquefied natural gas project by December and production will commence five years later.

“The facility will have 3.3 million tonnes of LNG production comprising gas treatment, liquefaction, storage and off-loading facilities,” Luca Bertelli (photo), chief exploration officer, told Reuters.

He said Eni also expects first oil production to commence in early 2017 from Ghana's $7.9 billion offshore field, with gas production coming on stream in H2 of 2018. Bertelli added that an estimated 60,000 barrels of oil will be produced by a floating production facility with a capacity to also treat around 210 million standard cubic feet of gas, as Ghana intends to become a major African oil and gas producer.

Coral South Development Project is located in the deep waters of the Rovuma Basin, which straddles Mozambique’s Northern border with Tanzania. Coral South is situated approximately 150 miles northeast of Pemba and 30 miles from the Mozambique coast.

The Coral discovery was made in May 2012 and outlined in 2013. It is estimated to contain 15 Tcf of gas in place, completely located in Area 4.

The Plan of Development of the discovery was approved by the Government of Mozambique’s Council of Ministers in February; the very first one to be approved in the Rovuma basin, foreseeing the drilling and completion of 6 subsea wells and the construction and installation of a technologically advanced state-of-the-art Floating LNG facility, the capacity of which will be around 3.4 mtpa.

Eni operates Area 4 with a 50% indirect interest, alongside Galp Energia, KOGAS and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) with a 10% stake each. CNPC owns a 20% indirect interest in Area 4 through Eni East Africa.

Anita Fatunji