The British Sponsor, a liquified natural gas (LNG) tanker that left the off-shore plant in Pemba, Cabo Delgado province in Mozambique, just under a month ago, has docked at the Spanish port of Bilbao.
The ship, carrying 173,400 cubic metres of LNG, arrived in Bilbao after “a voyage of 24 days, six hours originating from port Coral Sul-FLNG”.
The tanker is carrying Mozambique’s first LNG export under a long-term purchase and sale contract with British giant BP. The LNG was produced in Rovuma, in Mozambique, by the Coral Sul FLNG Project.
The platform, built in Korea, arrived in Mozambican waters in January, and is now anchored in Area Four of the Rovuma Basin, some 40 kilometres from the mainland.
It is the first deep-water platform in the world to operate at a depth of about 2,000 metres.
Budgeted at over US$7 billion, the Coral Sul project is expected to produce 3.4 million tons of LNG per year over its estimated 25-year lifespan.
The plant is managed by the Italian energy company Eni. All of its output over the next 20 years has been bought by the British company BP.
The LNG project has been dubbed Mozambique’s “economic magic bullet” and represents the largest-ever deposits found in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The war in Ukraine rekindled Europe’s demand for African oil and gas, which could take up about 20 per cent of Russian gas exports to Europe by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.
Meanwhile, in the UK, a legal challenge is being heard at the Court of Appeal over the British government’s decision to approve about US$1.15 billion for financing for the mega-project in Mozambique.
