Overcoming difficult market conditions, Eni signed contracts and inked regulatory and financial agreements June 1 to pave a clear path toward development of the Coral South floating LNG (FLNG) project offshore Mozambique. The FLNG development, which had awaited sanction by project partners, marks the first such development offshore Africa in an emerging frontier region known for its potential to help fulfill the world's growing appetite for natural gas. The FLNG unit will be the world's third. "Using a vessel [to] liquefy gas offshore will allow the partners to realize cash flow from Mozambique earlier," Alasdair Reid, research manager for Southern and East Africa at Wood Mackenzie, said in a statement. "The project will generate annual gross revenues of over US$1.5 billion per year (before tax) for 25 years, utilizing 4.7 trillion cubic feet [Tcf] of gas over its lifetime. With FID out of the way, the project is now on track for first LNG production in 2022."