State-owned oil company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) has announced that it has entered into a sales agreement with BP for the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the South Coral field, in Area 4, offshore Mozambique.

According to ENH, the operator of the field, Eni, also signed the agreement, Reuters reports.

“The contract is valid for 20 years, covering the sale of all LNG volumes that will be produced from the LNG floating plant in Coral South which will have a production capacity above 3.3 million tonnes of LNG per year,” the company said in a statement.

The Coral discovery is situated in the deep waters of Rovuma basin covering Mozambique's northern border with Tanzania. It lies in water depths between 1,500m and 2,300m, about 55km offshore in the western part of Area 4.The field was discovered in May 2012 and is a high-quality field containing 16tcf of gas. Eni was granted the rights to explore the Area 4 of the Rovuma basin containing the field in December 2006.

The field is being developed by Italian company as the operator. Eni is also the block operator and has a 50% stake in the Area 4, alongside other partners such as Galp Energia, KOGAS, ENH, holds 10% stake each, while CNPC holds the remaining 20% stake.

Anita Fatunji