Coral South FLNG Project

Coral South floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project located offshore Mozambique, in the southern part of Area-4 of Rovuma Basin, is the first FLNG project in Africa. It will be the world’s first ultra-deepwater FLNG facility to operate at a water depth of  2,000m.

Coral South FLNG is the first project sanctioned for development by the Area 4 partners.

Eni, the developer and operator of Coral South FLNG, announced financial closure for the project in December 2017 and started construction in September 2018.

To be permanently moored in the Coral South deepwater gas field, the FLNG is expected to produce 3.4 million tonnes (Mt) of LNG a year, over its estimated design life of 25 years, starting from mid-2022.

Rovuma Basin Area-4 development partners

The Area-4 permits in the Rovuma Basin are held by Mozambique Rovuma Venture (70%), Empresa Nactional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH, 10%), Galp Energia (10%), and KOGAS (10%).

Mozambique Rovuma Venture is a joint venture between Eni (35.7%), ExxonMobil (35.7%), and CNPC (28.6%).

Holding 25% overall ownership interests each, Eni and Exxonmobil will lead the development and operation of Area-4 projects.

Eni will be responsible for the construction and operation of all upstream facilities including the South Coral FLNG, whereas Exxonmobil will lead the construction and operate all future liquefaction trains and associated onshore facilities for the Area-4.

Coral South field discovery and gas reserves

Discovered in May 2012, the Coral South gas field is estimated to hold 16 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable gas.

The total gas reserves of the Area 4 are estimated to be 85tcf.

Coral South FLNG development details

The Coral South FLNG project comprises six subsea wells tied-back using three cluster manifolds to a permanently anchored FLNG vessel that is capable of producing and offloading 3Mt of LNG and 480,000t of gas condensate a year.

Measuring 439m-long, 65m-wide and 38.5m-tall, the 210,000t-heavy FLNG vessel will be permanently moored with large-diameter internal turret to withstand cyclonic weather and oceanic waves.

Being constructed in Samsung Heavy Industries’ (SHI) Geoje Shipyard in South Korea, the hull of the Coral South FLNG will house four turbo-compression trains equipped with aero derivative gas turbines and four turbo-generation units also driven by aero derivative gas turbines, for gas refrigeration and power generation.

The FLNG will use dual mixed refrigerant technology for gas liquefaction. It will offer a total LNG storage capacity of more than 230,000m³ and gas condensate storage capacity of 50,000m³.

Boil-off gas (BOG) and booster compressors will be used to re-liquefy excessive boil-off gas evaporating out of the LNG storage tanks.

The FLNG will also house living quarters for 350 people on-board.

LNG off-take from Coral South

BP entered a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with the Area 4 partners in October 2016 to off-take the entire LNG produced from Coral South.

Financing for Coral South FLNG project

Eni and the Area 4 partners secured $4.67bn in financing for the Coral South FLNG project in December 2017.

The financing includes direct loans from the Korea Eximbank (KEXIM) and other undisclosed commercial banks, and Export Credit Agency (ECA)-covered loans from BPI, KEXIM, Ksure, Sace and Sinosure.

Contractors involved with Coral South FLNG project

The TechnipFMC-led TJS Consortium involving JGC Corporation and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) was awarded the engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning (EPCIC) and start-up contract for the Coral South FLNG facility and its associated subsea structures, in June 2017.

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is the EPC contractor for the hull and is also responsible for the fabrication of topsides. SHI’s share of the contract amounts to $2.5bn.

TechnipFMC and JGC are responsible for the engineering and procurement for the FLNG topside and the overall project management.

GE Oil and Gas was awarded a contract to supply the production systems and ancillary equipment, including the subsea wellheads, production trees, manifolds and a complete topside control system for the Coral South FLNG project, in June 2017.

Aker Solutions was contracted for the supply of three steel tube umbilicals totalling 19km in length, in June 2017.

Baker Hughes, a subsidiary of GE, was contracted to supply the turbo-compression trains and turbo-generation units, along with PGT25+G4 aero derivative gas turbines, as well as boil-off gas and booster compressors, in August 2017.

SOFEC, a MODEC Group company was sub-contracted for the supply of the turret mooring system, in July 2017.

SOFEC further sub-contracted Keppel Offshore & Marine for the fabrication of the turret for the FLNG at Keppel shipyard in Singapore, in December 2017.Air Products was contracted for supplying its proprietary cryogenic wound heat exchanger technology and liquefaction process license for the Coral South FLNG facility, in July 2017. The company also received another contract in December 2017 to supply its Medium and High Purity Nitrogen Package for the FLNG.

RINA Services was selected to  provide technological validation services as well as act as the certification authority for the fabrication and design of the subsea structures and equipment for the Coral South FLNG project, in September 2017.

Lloyd’s Register was contracted to supervise and provide support services for the design procurement, design, certification, construction, integration and commissioning of the FLNG, in June 2018.

Lloyd’s Register will also provide classification service under a risk-based inspection regime when the FLNG is brought into operation in 2022.