Eni marked the start of construction of the Coral South FLNG vessel with a “first steel cut” ceremony at Geoje Island, South Korea, on 6 September. Aiming for startup of LNG production in offshore Mozambique’s Area 4 in 2022, the ceremony took place 15 months after the project’s final investment decision.
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. It will also include the storage tanks, some of the electrical, instrumentation, and mechanical rooms, as well as all maritime systems related to cargo management.
The FLNG construction started with the steel cut for the ship’s turret, which took place in March this year in Singapore.
The other main component of the FLNG, the topside modules, will also be built in South Korea at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyards and the construction is planned to start end of this year. The FLNG is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 and first gas is expected in 2022.
Eni is the delegated operator for the Coral South FLNG project, the first project to monetize the gas resources discovered in Area 4. The Area 4 participants are Eni (25%), ExxonMobil (25%), CNPC (20%), Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos EP (10%), Kogas (10%), and Galp Energia (10%).