Image: Upstream Online
Italian multinational Eni has completed the lifting and installation of the last of 13 topside modules for its Coral South floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility.
Currently under construction in a shipyard in South Korea, the 70,000-ton onshore modules are the final step in the fabrication of the plant, with the modules to be transported to Mozambique in 2021 and production to commence in 2022. Samsung Heavy Industries began construction of the Coral South FLNG hull and topside modules in 2019.
“This is a great achievement for Area 4 Partners, in the middle of all struggles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and confirms our commitment to the successful development of the Coral South Project,” stated Roberto Dall’Omo, General Manager of Eni, Rovuma Basin.
The Coral South FLNG facility will serve as the first newly built deep-water floating liquefaction plant globally, with other FLNG units, such as Hilli Episeyo in Cameroon and the soon-to-be built Gimi unit in Senegal, having been converted from LNG carriers.
With a capacity of 3.4 million tons of LNG annually, the Coral South development aims to monetize Mozambique’s considerable gas resources, and is centered around six ultra-deepwater wells within the Coral Field, which holds approximately 16 trillion cubic feet of gas in place and was discovered by Eni in May 2012.
Eni leads the project on behalf of the Area 4 partners, which include Mozambique Rovuma Venture (an incorporated joint venture owned by Eni, ExxonMobil and CNPC), Galp, KOGAS and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos E.P.