Eni closes $4.7 billion Coral South FLNG project financing

Italian oil company Eni has achieved financial close for a total amount of around $4.7 billion for the Coral South FLNG multi-sourced project financing. 

The project is located in the Area 4 offshore Mozambique where Eni is the operator.

In March 2017, Eni and ExxonMobil signed a sale and purchase agreement to enable ExxonMobil to acquire a 25 percent interest in Area 4, through EEA. The remaining interests in Area 4 are held by CNODC (20%), Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos E.P. (ENH, 10%), Kogas (10%) and Galp Energia (10%).

Eni sanctioned the project at the beginning of June 2017 and signed all the drilling, construction and installation contracts for the production facilities, as well as agreements with the Mozambican government for the regulatory framework and financing of the project.

According to Eni’s statement on Wednesday, the financing is split in the following facilities: BPI Export Credit Agency Covered Loan; KEXIM Export Credit Agency Covered Loan; Ksure Export Credit Agency Covered Loan; Sace Export Credit Agency Covered Loan; Sinosure Export Credit Agency Covered Loan; Commercial Bank Direct Loan; and KEXIM Direct Loan.

Coral South FLNG is the first project sanctioned by the Area 4 partners for the development of the considerable gas resources discovered by Eni and its partners in the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique.

It targets the production and monetization of the gas contained in the southern part of the Coral gas reservoir, by means of a floating LNG (FLNG) plant with a capacity of 3.4 million tons per year (MTPA). A sale and purchase agreement was signed in 2016 for the sale of 100% of the LNG production to BP.

Soon after the project was sanctioned, Eni awarded a contract for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning and start-up (EPCIC) of the Coral South FLNG facility and its associated risers and subsea flowlines system, as well as the installation of the umbilicals and subsea equipment to TechnipFMC, together with JGC Corporation and Samsung Heavy Industries, all partners in the TJS Consortium where TechnipFMC is the leader.

Technip and JGC Corporation then awarded a contract to Baker Hughes, a GE company, to provide rotating equipment for the power and gas refrigeration process of the new FLNG facility.

Speaking of FLNG units, Africa’s first FLNG vessel recently reached its final location in Cameroon, after a long journey from Singapore. The FLNG Hilli Episeyo is expected to start production soon. Also, the final investment decision (FID) for Ophir’s Fortuna FLNG project in Equatorial Guinea is still pending as Ophir is working to develop alternative funding sources for the project.

On the other hand, Petronas-owned Satu FLNG unit is already producing, making it the world’s first FLNG in production.

Offshore Energy Today Staff