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Mozambique, a producer and global exporter of LNG, has made progressive strides to harness its vast hydrocarbon resources. The international oil and gas companies involved in these developments have committed to doing so in an environmentally responsible manner, with a focus on minimizing carbon impact as much as possible.

The country’s major new gas projects include the development of the Coral gas field, located offshore in the Rovuma Basin, which is estimated to hold 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Another key project is the Rovuma LNG development, which will be the key to developing a series of large gas fields discovered in the Rovuma Basin, offshore in northern Mozambique.

ExxonMobil – which is leading the construction and operation of the Rovuma LNG project in deepwater Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin – opted to change the design of the project from 15 million tons per annum large trains to 18 million tons per annum modular electric LNG trains in 2021 due to changing market environment and security challenges.

“We are moving into a climate where investment decisions can be done,” said Frank Kretschmer, General Manager at oil and gas company ExxonMobil Mozambique.

He explained that the modular electric LNG train design includes 12 fully modularized LNG trains, each with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per annum. This design enhances project security, as most of the assembly and work are being done outside the country. It also reduces the plant's footprint, making construction more secure and less exposed. Additionally, the electric train design helps reduce the project's greenhouse gas emissions.

“By addressing this, we are on a pathway to really move forward to FID in 2026,” Kretschmer added.

He further noted that the company is underway with the front-end engineering design (FEED) process and will most likely begin early works at Palma in the Afungi peninsula, Northeast of Mozambique.

Meanwhile, Italian multinational energy company, Eni is partnering on the Rovuma LNG project and the development of Coral South, which converts gas from the Coral field into LNG. The Coral Sul floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility, the first of its kind in Africa and the third globally, is central to the development. The Coral Sul FLNG consortium includes Technip Energies, JGC Corporation and Samsung Heavy Industries.

According to Technical Director at Eni Rovuma Basin, Ivan Codognotto, the Coral Sul FLNG project is a key factor in unlocking trust for further investment in Africa and Mozambique. For example, he said investors are keen to participate in the planned Coral North FLNG project having seen the benefits of the Coral Sul FLNG project, which was delivered on time and within budget and is delivering according to expectation of the original design.

Moreover, in building sustainable, clean low-carbon projects and being appealing to offtake markets Codognotto said having a solid environment, social and governance (ESG) strategy is fundamental and was one of the most important factors for the developing the Coral Sul FLNG project.

“Besides technical innovation, we needed to be innovative in our ESG solutions,” he said. At the Coral Sul FLNG project, Eni adopted strategies to be as low carbon as possible by adopting a zero-gas flaring policy and being lower than benchmark energy consumption, he added. The company took a proactive approach to sustainability by improving access to food, water, education and healthcare, not only as a tick box ESG exercise, but because the company firmly believes in the necessary ad positive impact achieved by having an ESG strategy in place.

According to Rudencio Morais, EVP of Mozambique's national oil company, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), being the national oil company positions us to better understand the industry and create opportunities to bring gas into production.

“Our aim is to ensure that gas projects also contribute the development of the country by proving gas to the domestic market while also putting Mozambique on map by positioning the country as clean energy supplier to enable the energy transition,” he added.

Besides Coral South, which showcases the country’s development opportunity and supportive operating conditions in Mozambique, Morais also highlighted the country’s recent exploration success where two wells were drilled within the PT5-C block within past 19 months, one positive and one negative.

“Together with government, international oil companies and national oil companies need to work together to create the path needed to keep developing countries, continents and the world,” said Morais. He futher noted that a supportive exploration environment is key in developing enough resources to fulfil the energy requirements.

Florival Mucave, Executive Chairman of Mozambique Oil & Gas Chamber (CPGM), which has rebranded as the Mozambique Energy Chamber, said Mozambique is open for business as an investor friendly destination with supportive fiscal regime and investment goals. “Despite internal challenges that we take very seriously and are dealing with, the collaborative win-win approach in Mozambique among partners ensures the successful development of the country’ resources.”

As a technical partner within Mozambique’s energy sector, Julien Larour, Managing Director of Mozambique at French engineering and technology company Technip Energies said the company has been involved in the Coral Sul FLNG project since 2018 and is also working on the FEED contract by ExxonMobil at the Rovuma LNG project.

When it comes to the development of electric-driven trains for LNG projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the use of these trains makes the LNG being produced decarbonized, making the LNG more cost competitive. “Doing this from the design phase of project is critical as it sets the project up from an ESG perspective to have the least carbon impact as possible,” Larour concludes.