Eni Greenlights $7B Coral North FLNG Project

In a statement sent to Rigzone recently, Eni announced that it and its partners CNPC, ENH, Kogas, and XRG have reached the Final Investment Decision (FID) to develop the Coral North FLNG project, which is located offshore Cabo Delgado, north of Mozambique.

“The project will put in production the gas volumes from the northern part of Area’s 4 Coral gas reservoir, in the Rovuma basin, through a state of the art floating LNG facility,” Eni said in the statement, adding that the project will be implemented by a joint venture formed by Eni, CNPC, Kogas, ENH, and ADNOC’s subsidiary XRG.

Eni has a 50 percent stake in that venture, CNPC has a 20 percent stake, and Kogas, ENH, and XRG each have a 10 percent interest, Eni highlighted in the statement.

Coral North is Eni’s second development in Mozambique and the second large-scale FLNG delivered in ultra-deep waters worldwide, Eni said in the statement, pointing out that Coral South was the first.  

“Leveraging the experience gained with Coral South, which has been in production since 2022, Coral North will offer competitive advantages in terms of schedule, costs, performance optimization, and minimization of execution risks, aiming to deliver the project within schedule in 2028,” Eni added in the statement.

“With a production liquefaction capacity of 3.6 million tons per annum, the newly built Coral North FLNG – coupled with its predecessor Coral South – will bring Mozambique’s overall LNG production to exceeding seven million tons per annum, making the country the third-largest LNG producer in Africa and further reinforcing its role in the global energy scenario,” Eni continued.

The company noted in the statement that the project “is expected to boost Mozambican economy as well as the competitiveness of the local industries, creating more new jobs and opportunities for national enterprises, significantly scaling up the impacts already generated by Coral South and the investments in local development projects”. 

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said in the statement, “Coral North project leverages Eni’s unmatched exploration skills, our trademark fast track and capital disciplined development capabilities, Mozambique’s vast gas resources and its strategic geographic position”. 

“With Coral North we will contribute to supply the worldwide growing demand for LNG, doubling both Mozambique’s contribution to global energy security, and the benefits for the country and its citizens in terms of economic and industrial growth,” he added.

In a separate statement sent to Rigzone, XRG said it celebrated the Coral North FLNG FID, adding that the FID follows XRG’s “strategic acquisition of Galp’s 10 percent interest in the world-class Area 4 concession, completed in March 2025, marking its first investment in Mozambique”.

“As partner in this concession, XRG has access to the operational Coral South FLNG, Coral North FLNG, and the planned Rovuma LNG onshore development, collectively representing over 25 million tons per annum of potential LNG capacity,” XRG added in the statement.

“As a responsible, disciplined investor, XRG is committed to supporting projects that deliver long-term value for partners, shareholders, and host communities,” it continued.

XRG noted in the statement that Coral North “represents a critical step in further unlocking Mozambique’s natural gas resources, contributing to global energy security and enabling inclusive economic growth”.

The company went on to state that, “with strategic acquisitions in the United States, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Turkmenistan, and Mozambique”, it “continues to build a robust and geographically diverse international gas portfolio”.

“This includes the recent acquisition of an 11.7 percent equity stake in Phase 1 of the Rio Grande LNG project in the U.S., further strengthening XRG’s position in the global gas market,” XRG added.

A statement posted on the Presidency of the Republic of Mozambique’s website recently, which was translated to English, highlighted that the Coral North FLNG project is valued at $7.2 billion. The statement added that, over the lifetime of Coral North FLNG’s operation, Mozambique is expected to collect approximately $23 billion in tax revenue.

“This project is not just a feat of engineering, it is a work of hope for the Mozambican people,” Mozambique President Daniel Francisco Chapo was quoted as saying in the statement.

“Today we celebrate, but we also commit, as a government, to responsible management; to creating opportunities for all Mozambicans; to environmental sustainability; and to defending the national interest, which is the interest of the Mozambican people,” he added.

In a statement posted on its site recently, INP, the regulator of oil operations in Mozambique, highlighted that Coral North FLNG is one of the largest LNG projects in development in the country and confirmed that the project has “an investment of around $7.2 billion”.

The Chairman of the INP Board of Directors, Nazário Bangalane, said in that statement, “this project represents a qualitative leap in the exploitation of our resources and will allow the country to raise revenue over its lifetime, create jobs and contracts for Mozambican companies for the supply of goods and services”.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com