In celebration of the recipient of AOP’s ‘Person of the Year Award’, H.E. President Felipe Nyusi, we are running content from the Africa Energy Series Report 2020: Mozambique, which highlights Mozambique’s gas revolution. H.E. Nyusi will receive the prestigious award at the Mozambique Gas & Power 2021 Conference & Exhibition.
Rovuma LNG Liquefaction Plant
Led by ExxonMobil, the Rovuma LNG Liquefaction Plant will utilize gas resources from the Mamba Complex in Area 4 and the Coral South project to produce 15.2 million tons per year for both domestic use and export. Development includes two liquefaction trains with respective capacity of 7.6 million tons per year, a multi-purpose dock and an LNG export jetty with two marine loading berths to accommodate LNG carriers.
Due to its large-scale and capital-intensive nature, the development of Rovuma LNG has faced delay due to COVID-19, and in April 2020, Exxon announced that it would postpone FID on the $30 billion project. However, the decision is anticipated for next year and production is still expected to begin in 2024/25.
The Rovuma LNG project will produce and market gas from three reservoirs of the Mamba Complex in Area 4, which consists of the Mamba North, Mamba Northeast and Mamba South fields, discovered in October 2011. Initial exploration of the Mamba development will include 21 subsea wells fed to LNG trains via four flow lines and is expected to produce 100 million cubic feet per day.
Developed by Mozambique Rovuma Venture (ExxonMobil, Eni, China National Petroleum Corporation), Area 4 is also home to the Coral-1 and Coral-2 discoveries, along with the Agulha discovery, which preliminary studies suggest may hold five to seven trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas. In total, Area 4 is estimated to hold 85 Tcf of gas reserves, of which the Rovuma LNG project targets the commercialization of 21.7 Tcf. The development of the Coral field employs the use of a FLNG vessel, along with the installation of a subsea system that includes six subsea wells.
In October 2016, British major BP entered a 20-year sales and purchase agreement to off-take the entire LNG produced from Coral South, and in December 2018, Area 4 development partners secured LNG off-take commitment from affiliated buyers for the Rovuma LNG project.
Coral FLNG Development
The Coral South floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project is the second major offshore gas development located in the southern part of Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin, and will construct an FLNG vessel to service the Coral Gas field. The milestone project will represent the first FLNG project in Africa and the first ultra deep-water FLNG facility globally to operate at a depth of 2,000 meters.
The Coral South FLNG project comprises six subsea well tied-backs, with a capacity to produce and offload three million tons of LNG and 480,000 tons of gas condensate per year. The vessel will be comprised of a turret moored double-hull ship with gas receiving, processing, liquefaction and offloading facilities, along with LNG and condensate storage totaling over 230,000 and 50,000 cubic meters, respectively.
Italian multinational Eni is leading the ultra deep-water development. After securing $4.67 billion in financing – including direct loans from the Korea Eximbank (KEXIM) and Export Credit Agency-covered loans from BPI, KEXIM, Ksure, Sace and Sinosure – financial close was announced in December 2017 and construction began in September 2018. As part of their joint development of the Block, Eni is leading the construction and operation of all upstream facilities, including the South Coral FLNG, while Exxonmobil is responsible for the construction and operation of all planned liquefaction trains and associated onshore facilities.
Discovered in May 2012, the Coral South gas field is estimated to hold 16 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable gas. Total gas reserves of Area 4 are estimated to be 85 tcf. To be permanently secured in the Coral South deep-water gas field, the FLNG unit is expected to produce 3.4 million tons of LNG per year, over an estimated life of 25 years, starting from mid-2022.
