Africa – a new frontier for Floating LNG projects

(LNG Worldshipping News, London, 4 December 2017)) Floating LNG (FLNG) is opening new offshore gas basins for LNG development in Africa. The ownership structure of Africa’s new LNG production and the willingness of international oil companies to deploy new technologies will drive the commoditisation of LNG and cement its growing role as such in the global trading of energy. Uniquely, FLNG vessels will provide the first liquefaction plants in Mozambique and Cameroon and the technology is also expected to lead an expansion of capacity in Equatorial Guinea, Senegal and Mauritania. Italy’s Eni and its partners took a final investment decision on the 3.4M tonnes a year (mta) Coral FLNG scheme off Mozambique in June 2017. The project will be the first of this type to have as much as 60% of its cost funded on a project-finance basis, backed by 15 international banks and guaranteed by five export credit agencies. The financing was provided in the form of covered loans from five export credit agencies (Italy's Sace, China's Sinosure, Japan's Ksure, South Korea's Kexim, and Portugal's BPI) and two direct loans (one provided by Kexim, the other by an unnamed 'commercial bank').