ENI awaiting partners’ approval to start gas production in Mozambique – Descalzi in Maputo

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ENI awaiting partners’ approval to start gas production in Mozambique – Descalzi in Maputo

9:19 CAT | 22 Nov 2016

Noticias / Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario with ENI's CEO Claudio Descalzi, photographed yesterday in Maputo

ENI Chief Executive, Claudio Descalzi, said yesterday in Maputo that the Italian oil company was waiting for the approval of its three partners in the northern Mozambique Rovuma gas project consortium to start production.

“We are waiting for the approval of the other consortium partners. Clearly, the [Mozambican] state company in the consortium, ENH, has approved, so we have 60 percent of the project approved,” Descalzi told reporters after meeting the Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario.

ENI, he said, was awaiting the approval of the Portuguese company Galp, the Chinese CMPC company and South Korean company Kogas for the final investment in the project.

“We are waiting for the approval of these three companies, after which we can start,” he said.

Descalzi said the decision of ENI’s board of directors was an important step in starting liquid natural gas production development in Area 4 of the Rovuma basin.

“This is an important step for Mozambique, because it is the first giant energy project to start in Mozambique,” he added.

The ENI managing director recalled that the consortium that the Italian company leads has already sold all the gas it will produce in Mozambique to British multinational BP in advance.

In addition to meeting the Mozambican prime minister, who reported ENI’s decision to move forward with the gas project, Descalzi met Mozambican head of state Filipe Nyusi and the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Leticia Klemens.

In a statement released late last week, ENI’s Board of Directors announced that it had authorised investment in the first development phase of the Coral South project, located in the offshore Rovuma Basin Area 4.

The Italian company explains in a statement on its website that the operation is still dependent on the approval of the remaining partners of the business – Portugal’s Galp Energia and Kogas and ENH, each with a 10 percent share.

The project provides for the construction of six subsea wells linked to a floating production unit with a liquefaction capacity of more than 3.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas per year, equivalent to approximately 5,000 million cubic meters.

The Mozambican authorities approved the project development plan in February this year.

The Coral field, discovered in May 2012 and outlined in 2013, is located in Area 4 and contains approximately 450 billion cubic meters of gas.

In addition to the ENI-led consortium, the Rovuma basin will be exploited by another consortium led by US-based Anadarko, which has yet to announce its final investment decision on the project.

Source: Lusa