Mozambique's Coral gas field

The first batch of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced at Mozambique's Coral gas field has been shipped to Europe from the Coral Sul floating platform, Italian energy giant Eni, the operator of the Coral South project, confirmed on Sunday.

In a statement, the company said that "Eni, as Delegated Operator of the Coral South project on behalf of its Area 4 Partners (ExxonMobil, CNPC, GALP, KOGAS and ENH), informs that the first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced from the Coral gas field, in the ultra-deep waters of the Rovuma Basin, has just departed from Coral Sul Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility."

Mozambique ranks 14th in the world for natural gas reserves. According to Eni, the Coral South project is a landmark for the industry and brings the country to the global LNG stage.

The Coral Sul floating platform has a gas liquefaction capacity of 3.4 million tonnes per year and will produce LNG from the 450 billion cubic meters of the Coral reservoir's gas.

Coral South is the first project approved by Area 4 development partners in the Rovuma Basin off Mozambique's coast. The field supposedly has gas resources of some 500 billion cubic meters.

On his part, Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi considered in a statement that "the first shipment of LNG from Coral South project, and from Mozambique, is a new and significant step forward in Eni’s strategy to leverage gas as a source that can contribute in a significant way to Europe’s energy security, also through the increasing diversification of supplies, while also supporting a just and sustainable transition."

"We will continue to work with our partners to ensure timely valorization of Mozambique’s vast gas resources," he added.

It is noteworthy that Area 4 is managed by Mozambique Rovuma Venture, a joint venture between Italy's Eni, US energy company ExxonMobil, and the China National Petroleum Corporation.

Eni is also working on a second floating LNG producer to install offshore Mozambique.

This comes as European countries have this year significantly increased imports of LNG as they seek to boost energy security and reduce dependency on Russian gas supplies.