- Italian energy giant ENI will start pumping liquefied natural gas off the coast of northern Mozambique in the first half of next year, the Mozambican government has announced.
- The announcement came after ENI chief executive Claudio Descalzi met president Filipe Nyusi in Maputo to discuss the project in Maputo last Friday.
- ENI is also discussing the possibility of farming to produce biofuels in Mozambique.
According to Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Max Tonela, offshore drilling at the Coral South project was completed last week.
“It is expected that construction of the platform will be finalised this year, so the outlook is positive that, by the end of the first half of 2022, Mozambique will start to produce and export LNG,” Tonela said.
Descalzi said the ENI project was the first “to produce the large gas reserves that we have discovered in Mozambique”.
Area 4 off the Mozambique coast. Image credit: Galp
Unlike TotalEnergie’s mega LNG project in onshore in Alfungi, Mozambique, ENI’s Coral South floating platform is located deep offshore the Mozambique coast in Area 4. In late March this year, dozens of people were killed during attacks on the town of Palma, prompting TotalEnergies in April to declare force majeure on work at its LNG project. Read more
All of the gas at the ENI site will be sold to Britain’s BP
ENI is also discussing the possibility of farming to produce biofuels in Mozambique announced Descalzi. The idea follows the example of similar discussions by ENI with other African countries on “land that is not used for food production agriculture,” he said.
Descalzi pointed to castor beans as one of the fruits that could be used to produce biofuel. During the meeting other strategies for carbon capture were also discussed to offset Eni’s gas exploration projects in Mozambique.
ENI is also expected to start prospecting activities off Angoche, central Mozambique, in mid 2022.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
