Mozambique: CTA optimistic about Coral Norte

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Mozambique: CTA optimistic about Coral Norte

6:10 CAT | 16 Apr 2025

Photo: CTA

The chairperson of the Confederation of Mozambican Business Associations (CTA), Agostinho Vuma, believes that the government’s decree on the development plan for the Coral Norte liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, located in Area Four of the Rovuma Basin, off the coast of the northern province of Cabo Delgado, was necessary for the expansion of new projects aimed at boosting the country’s economy.

The development plan should allow the Italian energy company ENI to produce 3.5 million tonnes of LNG per year. The project, which is a floating platform, is budgeted at 7.2 billion dollars, and it could start production in the second quarter of 2028. Coral Norte is expected to operate for 30 years.

ENI has already been operating the Coral Sul Floating LNG platform since November 2022. It has been exporting around one shipment of LNG per week. Recently, it reached the landmark of the 100th shipment of LNG.

“One of the biggest gains of this new development plan for Coral Norte is the government’s announcement of the creation of more jobs for Mozambicans. We welcome and praise these achievements”, Vuma told reporters on Tuesday, in Maputo.

He said that this project is also positive because it foresees the supply of domestic gas as an indispensable raw material for the country’s industrialization.

“Some of the advantages resulting from this, unlike the first phase, include the initial allocation of 10 per cent of the gas to the domestic market, which can increase to 25 per cent with all the benefits and positive impacts that will result”, he said.

The Coral Norte FLNG will have six production wells.

“We recognize and praise this provision as an important gain for the country, but we consider it necessary and urgent for the government to approve additional measures that embody a gasification model so that, when the gas is released, downstream initiatives can be made viable immediately”, he said.

Vuma also believes that the project will improve the country’s international image, which was badly damaged by the the rioting and looting which followed December’s announcement of election results widely regarded as fraudulent.

Vuma also said that the government’s creation of an economic recovery fund is positive because it will fund Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), “a productive sector with high potential for boosting the national economy, promoting job creation and increasing income.

Source: AIM