Italian oil firm Eni has approached
banks for billions of dollars to finance a huge offshore gas development in
Mozambique, a significant step in getting a long-delayed project off the ground,
the company and sources said.Eni confirmed it met bankers in London last week
about project financing to develop the Coral field, part of the huge reserves
discovered six years ago in the Area 4 concession off the Mozambican coast.“It’s
running into billions of dollars,” one source familiar with the financing told
Reuters, adding banks were also looking for credit guarantees from foreign
governments, including Britain and China.Banks are likely to respond within three
to four weeks with terms of loans they are willing to provide, one of the last
stages before Eni can make a final investment decision (FID) on the project,
two sources close to the deal said.Eni said it hoped to announce a FID by the
end of this year.Some lenders may be concerned about involvement in a project
in Mozambique, given recent clashes between opposition guerrillas and
government forces and financial scandals.The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
is in Mozambique this week to try to restore trust between President Filipe
Nyusi’s government and international lenders after more than $2 billion in
secret loans came to light this year.The IMF has suspended its own lending to
the southeast African country, insisting on external scrutiny as a precursor to
resuming financial aid.“The biggest challenge is Mozambique country risk,” one
of the sources said.Reserves discovered in Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin in recent
years amount to some 85 trillion cubic feet, one of the largest finds in a decade
and enough to supply Germany, Britain, France and Italy for nearly two decades.The
gas offers Mozambique an opportunity to transform itself from one of the
world’s poorest countries into a middle-income state and a major global
liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter.Negotiations with operators Eni and U.S.
firm Anadarko have dragged on for years due to disputes over terms and concerns
about falling energy prices.However, there have been several signs of significant
progress in recent months.Eni has struck a deal with Samsung Heavy to provide a
floating LNG platform to process the gas from the Coral field, which will be sold
to BP.Eni has also wrapped up long-running talks to sell a multi-billion dollar
stake in other fields in Area 4 to Exxon Mobil, sources told Reuters last
month.In 2013, Eni sold 20 percent of its Area 4 licence to China’s CNPC for
$4.2 billion but since then oil and gas prices have come down by more than
half.Anadarko’s $24 billion onshore LNG project is expected to lag Eni’s and
its FID is unlikely this year.
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