Galp's Board Approves Coral

Portugal’s Galp said December 19 its board had approved its own investment in the Coral floating LNG project offshore Mozambique.

Besides partner approvals, Galp noted that the FID is subject to … “closing of the financing of the project and approval by the Mozambican government of the financing conditions related to the [Mozambican state firm] Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) carry.”

The CEO of the project leader Eni, Claudio Descalzi, said on December 13 that approvals from Galp and China National Petroleum Corporation were still awaited. As of December 20, no final investment decision (FID) has yet been announced by Eni whose own board approved investment last month.

Mozambique's state news agency AIM last month reported that ENH approved the project on November 16 and that its 10% share would require equity investment of $800mn, putting the overall project cost at around $8bn. Eni indicated in March that a floating LNG (FLNG) facility of Coral’s size would cost some $4.5bn. ENH said partners had invested $2.8bn during the Coral South exploration phase. 

Coral would be east Africa's first LNG project. With capacity of 3.3mn mt/yr (5bn m³/yr), the floating LNG project will be located in the southern part of the Coral gas discovery, exclusively within Mozambique’s offshore Area 4 and containing 16 trillion ft³ gas in place. Overall gas discovered in Area 4 is estimated at 85 trillion ft³, including the large Mamba discovery.

Galp holds a 10% stake in Area 4. Eni is the operator with a 50% indirect interest through Eni East Africa, which holds a 70% stake in Area 4. South Korean state Kogas and ENH each hold a 10% interest, while CNPC has an indirect stake of 20% through Eni East Africa.

Mark Smedley