Eni 'Cuts First Steel' on Coral FLNG Hull

Italy's Eni and its Area 4 partners held the “first steel cut” ceremony at Geoje Island in South Korea, marking the start of construction of the hull of Coral South’s floating LNG (FLNG) vessel.

The ceremony, attended by Mozambique's minerals and energy minister Ernesto Max Tonela, took place just 15 months after the project's final investment decision, highlighting the commitment of Area 4 Partners to start LNG production by 2022. The FLNG vessel, with capacity to liquefy 3.4mn mt/yr, is expected to be completed by end-2021. First gas is expected in 2022.

The hull is designed to accommodate the storage facilities for all the substances that will be processed and produced in the floating liquefaction plant, mainly LNG and condensates. In addition to the storage tanks, some of the electrical, instrumentation and mechanical rooms, as well as all maritime systems related to cargo management, will be located in the hull.

The FLNG construction actually started in March 2018 with the steel cut for the ship’s turret, which took place in Singapore. The FLNG's topside modules will also be built in South Korea at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyards. Full construction is planned to start later this year. 

Eni is operator for the Coral South FLNG project, the first project to monetise the world class gas resources discovered in Area 4 offshore Mozambique. Area 4 participants are Eni 25%, US supermajor ExxonMobil 25%, Chinese state producer CNPC 20%, Mozambican state Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENP) 10%, South Korean state importer Kogas 10%, and Portugal's Galp 10%.

Subsequent onshore LNG developments, using gas from Area 4, will be operated by ExxonMobil.

Above and banner photos: Eni's executive vice-president for Mozambique, Stefano Maione (left), Mozambican energy minister Ernesto Max Tonela (centre), and Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Joonou Nam together push the plasma steel-cutter button (Credit: Eni)