This aerial photo taken on Nov. 11, 2022 shows an oil tanker British Sponsor (L) loading Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) alongside the Coral South Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) platform in northeastern Mozambique. Photo: Xinhua

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced Sunday the start of the export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in Mozambique, as the oil tanker British Sponsor has already left Mozambican territorial waters carrying the first cargo of LNG produced by the Coral South Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project in the north of the country.

Being Africa's largest and the second largest FLNG project in the world, Coral South FLNG is the pioneering part of Mozambique's Area 4 mega gas project, which was a joint venture bringing together the Italian ENI, ExxonMobil of the U.S., China's CNPC, Mozambican ENH, the Galp from Portugal and the Korean KOGAS.

Integrating the world's most cutting-edge deep-sea LNG technology, Coral South FLNG contains a floating production platform installed 80 kilometers offshore Mozambique in the southern part of Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin. It has a production capacity of 3.4 million tonnes of LNG per year from wells located in 2,000-meter water depth with a design life of 25 years.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, the Chairman of Mozambique's National Institute of Petroleum Nazario Banglane said the Coral South FLNG project is of great importance to the country's economic development and the export of the first cargo marks the beginning of Mozambique's emergence as a producer and exporter of LNG at the global market.

The success of the Coral South FLNG project is the result of the efforts made by the Mozambican government as well as its partners including the CNPC, said Banglane.

According to the General Manager of CNPC Mozambique Zheng Jianhua, it is a successful practice of the CNPC to promote green low-carbon energy transition through Coral South FLNG project.

"During the 60-month construction period, we have overcome multiple challenges such as the global pandemic and the security situation in the project site, as well as technical difficulties, making the project the only FLNG project in the world to start production on schedule over the same period," said Zheng.

President Nyusi highlighted that the success of this international venture is a sign of recognition that Mozambique offers a reliable environment for the implementation of multi-billion investments, but he also appealed to Mozambicans not to take gas exploration as the only solution to develop Mozambique.

"We must maintain and intensively increase production and productivity in our traditional activities, such as agriculture, fishing, tourism, energy generation projects, among others,"said Nyusi.

The natural gas from the Coral South FLNG project will be marketed exclusively through the British Petroleum company for a period of 20 years.