Italian oil and gas firm, Eni and its partners have reached financial close for the $4.67bn Coral South floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project in the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique.

The FLNG, which will be used to develop the considerable gas resources discovered by Eni and its Partners in the Area 4 in Rovuma Basin, will have a design capacity of 3.4 million tons per annum (MTPA).

Planned to be moored in 2,000m of water depth in the Area 4, the project features a turret-moored, double-hull, floating vessel equipped for receiving, processing and liquefaction of the produced gas.

Additional features include offloading facilities as well as storage facilities for LNG and condensate.

Eni said that the FLNG project targets the production and monetization of the gas contained in the southern part of the Eni-operated Coral gas field, which is planned to be developed in phases.

The Coral south development project is located in the deep waters of the Rovuma Basin.

The first phase development of the Coral field, which is estimated to contain about 450 billion cubic meters of natural gas, involves estimated investment of $8bn.

Eni operates the Area 4 through its Eni East Africa subsidiary, which is jointly owned by Eni and Exxon Mobil, with 50% stake.

Other partners China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development (CNODC) with 20% stake as well as Additioan, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, Kogas and Galp Energia each holding 10% interest.

In 2016, BP signed an agreement to buy 100% of the LNG produced by the Coral South FLNG facility.

Earlier, Aker Solutions was selected to supply umbilicals for the Coral field development project.

Expected to start operating in the middle of 2022, the FLNG facility will produce nearly five trillion cubic feet of gas over 25 years of its operational life.


Image: Illustration of Aker’s umbilicals for the Coral field development project. Photo: courtesy of Aker Solutions.