Mozambique: Rovuma production of liquefied gas to start in October – government

Production of liquefied natural gas in the Rovuma basin by the Coral Sul floating platform (FLNG) moored off Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique will start within seven months, the Mozambican government announced.

“In October of this year we will have the first results in terms of production,” Council of Ministers spokesperson Filimão Suaze said after the body’s meeting on Tuesday.
Suaze also highlighted plans to train Mozambicans on board the infrastructure, one of the largest of its type in the world.

“There is a deep ‘know-how’ that remains with the Mozambicans, and over the foreseen 25 years” of the platform’s useful life (in a first phase) it is expected that the number of Mozambicans employed, which now stands at 27, “will increase”.

The Coral Sul gas extraction and liquefaction platform is the first in deep water, and the first project of its kind developed in Africa.

Production of about 3.4 million tons of natural gas per year will be carried out within Mozambique’s Exploitation Area 4, and will all be sold to the oil company BP for a period of 20 years, with an option to extend it for another 10 years.

The FLNG platform has storage tanks in its hull and 13 modules on top of them, including a liquefaction plant, an eight-story accommodation block for 350 people and a helicopter landing pad.

Area 4 is operated by Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV), a joint venture which holds a 70% participating interest in the concession contract, co-owned by ExxonMobil (USA), Eni (Italy) and CNPC (China).

Galp (Portugal), KOGAS (South Korea) and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (Mozambique) each hold 10% stakes.