GLNG: Mozambique expects to dispatch history-making first LNG export by end of October

Mozambique is on track to export its first LNG cargo from the Coral field, located off the coast of the country’s northernmost Cabo Delgado province, by the end of October, Macao News reported on October 19.

The publication, based in a special administrative region of China, quoted Mozambique’s Finance Minister Max Tonela as saying to the Portuguese news agency Lusa: “We hope that before the end of October the first export of LNG produced by Mozambique will take place.”

Lusa noted that natural gas from the Coral field was already being processed into LNG for the upcoming shipment but did not provide any further details. However, TradeWinds reported separately, citing data from Kpler, that BP-operated tanker known as the British Sponsor had arrived at the Coral natural gas field as of October 16. It also quoted anonymous sources as saying that the 173,644-cubic metre ship had not yet loaded any LNG and would probably carry out a number of trials and dry runs before doing so.

The cargo will eventually be loaded on the tanker at the Coral Sul floating LNG (FLNG) facility installed at the Coral field by Eni (Italy) and its partners in an international consortium established to explore and develop a section of the offshore block known as Area 4.

The FLNG vessel, which has a production capacity of 3.4mn tonnes per year (tpy), will be used to process 450bn cubic metres of gas from the Coral reservoir within Area 4. It is the first floating gas liquefaction plant ever to be deployed at a deepwater field off the coast of Africa.