File photo. National Heroes Square in Pemba, capital of Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique, 2020. Photo: VOA, public domain, Wikimedia Commons.

MOZAMBIQUE · LNG

Coral Norte drilling in Mozambique now has a state-owned partner on the rig: ENH, the national oil and gas company. Eni, the Italian energy group leading the project, announced the campaign on Monday 2 November 2026, with ENH joining through a venture with Saipem.

The wells will feed a floating plant that turns gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas chilled into a liquid for ships. For US readers, it adds supply that American exporters compete against in Europe and Asia from 2028.

What Eni Announced on 2 November

Eni said on Monday 2 November 2026 that the Coral Norte drilling campaign is beginning, in a statement dated Maputo, Sunday 1 November. The wells will supply a floating plant moored offshore.

The work is done by ENH-Saipem Drilling Company, a joint venture of ENH and Saipem, an Italian offshore contractor. It uses the drillship Saipem 12000, a vessel built for deep-water drilling.

Eni calls the joint venture a landmark for local content, meaning more work for Mozambican staff and firms. It says this is the first time a company with Mozambican participation takes a direct operational role in offshore drilling.

File photo. The LNG carrier Gulf Energy at anchor, shown to illustrate the liquefied gas trade; taken in Norway. Photo: Gordon Leggett, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

In Plain English, Who Is Who

ENH, short for Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, is Mozambique’s state oil and gas company. It is already one of Eni’s partners in Area 4, the offshore gas block where Coral Norte sits.

Eni leads the project. Its statement names CNPC, a Chinese state oil group, KOGAS, South Korea’s gas company, and XRG, an Abu Dhabi energy investor, as partners.

Saipem is an Italian offshore engineering and drilling contractor that shares the drilling company with ENH. INP, the Instituto Nacional de Petróleo, is Mozambique’s state regulator for oil and gas.

How Big Is Coral Norte

Coral Norte is a floating LNG plant, known as an FLNG, that will sit above the northern part of the Coral gas field. INP says it is designed for 3.55 million tonnes of LNG a year from six underwater wells.

INP puts the investment at about US$7.2 billion and expects roughly US$23 billion in revenue over the project’s life. It says the plant will be anchored about 10 kilometres from Coral Sul and more than 50 kilometres off the coast of Palma district.

Mozambique’s Council of Ministers, the cabinet, approved the development plan in April 2025, and the partners took their final investment decision in October 2025. Eni says the first plant, Coral Sul, has already delivered more than 175 LNG cargoes.

What It Means for You

Mozambique’s LNG competes with US cargoes for buyers in Europe and Asia, so a second plant adds supply that American exporters will face from 2028. No direct effect on US gas prices is expected before then.

Nearby projects include TotalEnergies’ restart of its Area 1 project and ExxonMobil’s contracts for Rovuma LNG, a separate project in the same area. A drilling start on schedule is one more sign that the northern gas coast is moving from planning to building.

What Is Not Known

Eni’s statement gives no count of wells for this campaign and no contract value. The six-well and 3.55 million tonne figures come from INP’s January 2026 description of the design.

ENH’s share of the drilling joint venture has not been disclosed. The 2028 start-up also depends on the floating plant itself, whose hull was launched in January 2026 at a shipyard in South Korea.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is ENH?

ENH is Mozambique’s state-owned national hydrocarbons company. It is a partner in Area 4 and shares the drilling company working on Coral Norte with Saipem.

When will Coral Norte produce gas?

Eni expects production to start in 2028. The drilling and completion campaign is expected to take about 10 months.

How much LNG will Coral Norte make?

INP says the plant is designed for 3.55 million tonnes a year. With Coral Sul, Eni says Mozambique’s LNG output would reach 7 million tonnes a year.

Does this change US gas prices?

No direct effect is expected before 2028, when Coral Norte is due to start. After that it adds LNG supply that competes with US cargoes for buyers.

Sources: Eni, press release on the start of the Coral North FLNG drilling campaign, 2 November 2026; INP (Instituto Nacional de Petróleo), Coral Norte FLNG hull launch, 16 January 2026.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief