MOZAMBIQUE · LNG
Key Facts
- Decision Cabinet approved up to US$7.2 billion of financing for Coral Norte, a floating gas plant, on 15 September.
- Debt split Up to 70% may be borrowed; at least 30% must be equity, meaning the owners’ own money.
- State risk A decree reported on 9 November rules out state debt or fiscal risk from the loans.
- Plant It is designed for 3.55 million tonnes of LNG a year, with delivery targeted for 2028.
Mozambique’s government has approved up to US$7.2 billion of financing for Coral Norte, a floating gas plant being built off the country’s northern coast, and says the state will not take on the debt. The cabinet cleared the structure on Tuesday 15 September 2026, and a decree reported on 9 November sets the limits.
For US readers, the plant adds liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas chilled into a liquid for ships, to a market where American exporters sell to Europe and Asia. It also shows how Mozambique is trying to keep new gas borrowing away from its public accounts after the hidden-debt scandal of 2016.
What the Government Approved
The Council of Ministers, Mozambique’s cabinet, approved the financing structure at its 27th ordinary session on Tuesday 15 September 2026, according to the Instituto Nacional de Petróleo (INP), the state oil and gas regulator. The ceiling is US$7.2 billion, of which up to 70% may be borrowed and at least 30% must come from equity.
INP names the borrower as ENH Rovuma Área 4 Investments FZCO. ENH, short for Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, is Mozambique’s state oil and gas company, and a separate resolution creates ENH Coral Norte, a company whose entire share capital will be acquired by ENH’s Area 4 arm.
No State Debt, and Limits for Lenders
The decree, as reported on 9 November, says the loans go ahead without the state taking on any debt, fiscal risk or financial burden from the financing. It also bars lenders from using rights or guarantees in ways that would affect national sovereignty, regulatory powers or ownership of natural resources.
That does not mean nobody owes money. ENH’s own equity share still has to be funded, and a second resolution approves the general terms for doing so.
Mozambique has reason to be careful. In 2016 the discovery of undisclosed borrowing by state companies, known as the hidden debts and put by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at US$1.4 billion in 2016, led donors to suspend budget support and the IMF to cancel a review mission.
Writing the exclusion into the decree puts the Coral Norte loans on a different footing from those guarantees. Whether lenders accept that footing will show once the loan terms are public.
What Coral Norte Is
Coral Norte is a floating plant that will chill gas from the Coral field in Area 4, an offshore gas block in the Rovuma Basin, off Cabo Delgado Province, into LNG. INP says it is designed for 3.55 million tonnes a year over a 30-year life, and its hull was launched at a South Korean shipyard in January 2026.
Eni, the Italian energy group that leads the project, announced the final investment decision, the formal commitment of the money, in Maputo on Thursday 2 October 2025. Eni aims to deliver the project in 2028, and says the project will lift Mozambique’s overall LNG production above 7 million tonnes a year.
In Plain English
- LNG: natural gas cooled into a liquid so ships can carry it.
- ENH: Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos, Mozambique’s state oil and gas company.
- Equity: money the owners put in themselves, as opposed to borrowed money.
- Partners: Eni, ENH, CNPC (China’s state oil group), Kogas (South Korea’s gas company) and XRG (an Abu Dhabi energy investor).
What It Means for You
US LNG exporters compete with Mozambique for buyers in Europe and Asia, so Coral Norte adds rival supply from 2028, not before. No direct effect on US gas prices is expected in the meantime.
Investors following the Rovuma Basin can watch whether the next project there is financed on the same terms. TotalEnergies restarted construction on its Area 1 project in January 2026 after an attack-related suspension, and the US oil major ExxonMobil’s separate project in the basin still awaits a final investment decision.
What Is Not Known
The lenders, the loan terms and the exact split of the US$7.2 billion between debt and equity have not been published. Reports differ on whether a decree was issued on 4 November, about seven weeks after the 15 September cabinet session, and we have not seen the decree text.
More: Mozambique news in English, how ENH joined the Coral Norte drilling campaign, attacks in Cabo Delgado and audits of Mozambique’s mine and gas revenues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Mozambique’s state owe the Coral Norte loans?
The decree says the financing does not oblige the state to take on any debt, fiscal risk or financial burden. ENH’s equity share is funded separately under a second resolution.
How much can the project borrow?
Up to 70% of the US$7.2 billion ceiling, about US$5 billion, may be debt. At least 30%, about US$2.2 billion, must be equity.
When will Coral Norte produce gas?
Eni aims to deliver the project in 2028. The plant’s hull was launched in South Korea in January 2026.
Does this change US gas prices?
No direct effect is expected before 2028. After that, Coral Norte adds LNG that competes with US cargoes in Europe and Asia.
Sources: INP (Instituto Nacional de Petróleo), Government approves financing structure for Coral Norte FLNG, 16 September 2026; Eni, final investment decision for Coral North, 2 October 2025; INP, Coral Norte FLNG hull launch, 16 January 2026; decree on the Coral Norte financing, as reported on 9 November 2026.
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