The US oil and gas company ExxonMobil has completed the acquisition of a 25% interest in the Area 4 block in Mozambique from the Italian energy group Eni and will assume the responsibility for midstream operations in the block. Besides, the company will lead the construction and operations of all future gas liquefaction related facilities, while Eni will continue to develop and operate the Coral floating LNG project and all related upstream operations.
In December 2017, Eni and its Area 4 partners achieved financial close for the US$4.7bn Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project near the Coral South gas field off the coast of Mozambique. The deal has been split among seven banks and will enable the production and monetization of the gas contained in the southern part of the Coral gas reservoir thanks to a 3.4 Mt/year FLNG project.
The FLNG project is being developed by Eni East Africa (35.7% Eni, 35.7% ExxonMobil and 28.6% CNPC), which holds a 70% interest in Area 4. It will be soon renamed Mozambique Rovuma Venture. The remaining interests are held by Mozambique's National Hydrocarbon Company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH, with 10%), KOGAS (10%) and GALP Energia (10%). LNG production is set to start in 2022 and all the gas produced from the FLNG plant will be sold to BP over a 20-year period.