Eni on Friday, announced that it has approved the investment plan for the Phase 1 of the development of the Coral gas discovery in the Rovuma Basin, offshore Mozambique.

According to the company, the project includes the construction of six subsea wells linked to a floating LNG production facility, with a liquefaction capacity of more than 3.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year.

The project development plan for the field was approved by Mozambican authorities in February. In October, Eni and its Area 4 partners entered into an agreement with BP for the sale of the total volumes of LNG produced by the FNLG Coral South, for over twenty years.

This was the first agreement signed in Mozambique and a move towards the development of the 85 Tcf of gas discovered in Area 4, Eni told LNG World News.

The approval of the investment plan moves the project nearer to reaching the final investment decision, which is expected to occur once all Area 4 partners have approved it and the project financing has been guaranteed.

The Coral field was discovered in May 2012 and outlined in 2013. The field is located within Area 4 and contains about 16 tcf of gas in place.

Eni is the operator of Area 4. The company holds a 50% indirect interest alongside CNPC with 20% through Eni East Africa, which holds a 70 percent stake in Area 4. The other partners are Galp Energia, Kogas and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), with a 10 percent stake each.

Anita Fatunji