Italian energy group Eni and its partners signed off on Thursday on a project to build a second floating liquefied natural gas platform, Coral North, offshore Mozambique that will make the country a top African LNG producer.
A signing ceremony, attended by Mozambique President Daniel Chapo and Eni Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi, took place in an upmarket hotel in the Southern African country's capital Maputo.
The new unit, a replica of sister platform Coral South in the Rovuma Basin which started exports to Europe in 2022, will double Mozambique's LNG output to over seven million tons per annum once operational.
"Coral North will more than double the benefits for the country - it is projected to generate $23 billion in tax revenues, create even more jobs, increase national suppliers and assign $3 billion in contracts to local companies," Descalzi said at the ceremony.
The project is scheduled to start operations in 2028, he said.
Located far out into the ocean, Coral North's go-ahead has avoided the problems faced by TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil, whose LNG terminals being developed onshore have been delayed for years because of security concerns linked to an Islamist insurgency.
While TotalEnergies is expected to lift force majeure soon on its $20 billion plant, and ExxonMobil is expected to take its own final investment decision next year, ongoing attacks in the restive north remain a concern despite the deployment of Rwandan military forces to help fight the insurgency.
Mozambique's 2031 Eurobond has gained this week on the expectation that Eni would agree to proceed with Coral North and that TotalEnergies would also soon resume construction of its project, said Samir Gadio, head of Africa strategy at Standard Chartered Bank.
Coral North will be built by a joint venture between operator Eni (50 per cent), China National Petroleum Company (20 per cent), Korea Gas Corporation (10 per cent), Mozambican state-owned national oil company ENH (10 per cent) and ADNOC's subsidiary XRG (10 per cent).
(Reporting by Custodio Cossa and Manuel Mucari; Writing by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Alexander Winning and Susan Fenton)
