Eni and Qatar Petroleum have signed an agreement to allow Qatar Petroleum to acquire a 25,5% stake in block A5-A, offshore Mozambique. The agreement is subject to approval by the Mozambican authorities.
The A5-A block, located in the deep waters of the northern Zambezi basin, about 1.500 km northeast of the capital Maputo, was assigned to Eni following the competitive "5 ° Licensing Round" organized by the Republic of Mozambique, while the contract for the exclusive rights of exploration and development of the block was signed in October 2018. The block extends over an area of 5.133 km2 to a depth ranging from 300 to 1.800 meters in a completely unexplored area in front of the city of Angoche.
Eni is the operator of the block with a 59,5% stake, which will drop to 34% following the approval of the agreement. The other partners of the consortium are Sasol with 25,5% and the Mozambican state company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) with 15%.
"Today's agreement represents another milestone in the strategic path that Eni and QP have undertaken to further strengthen their partnership worldwide", commented Eni's CEO, Claudio Descalzi.
Eni is present in Mozambique from the 2006 following the entry into the 4 Area, in the north of the country in the offshore of the Rovuma basin where, following successful campaigns and the discovery of the deposits of Coral, Mamba and Agulha, estimates the presence of more than 85 TCF of gas in place (about 2.400 billion cubic meters of natural gas).
Coral's initial development program includes the construction of a floating liquefaction plant (FLNG) with a capacity of approximately 3,4 million tons per year. Construction began in June 2017 and production is expected to start in 2022.
The development program also includes the construction of an onshore plant consisting of 2 trains for the treatment and liquefaction of gas with a capacity of 15,2 million tons per year, which will represent the first phase of the Rovuma LNG project. The project is expected to be sanctioned in 2019 and production is expected to start in 2024.
Eni and Qatar Petroleum are already partners in Oman and Mexico.