The construction of the floating factory is intended for initial exploration of natural gas in the area, where Italian oil company ENI East Africa discovered significant gas reserves, estimated to contain over 85 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin is located approximately 250 kilometres northeast of the city of Pemba, with its western boundary over 50 kilometres from the coast of Cabo Delgado province.

Cited by Mozambican newspaper Notícias, the Consultec technician who presented the study, Emanuel Viçoso said it was likely that the project proposed by ENI would have residual negative and positive impacts on the environment, although few positive impacts are expected due its location out at sea.

The environmental impact study, he said, had identified more than 80 positive and negative impacts in total from drilling, installation, commissioning and decommissioning mainly, directly or indirectly, related to the increase in maritime traffic in the region, with resulting effects associated to an increase in noise and lighting on people and marine wildlife.

The study also said, however, that the vast majority of the ENI Group’s project impacts were classified as being of low or medium significance after mitigation, i.e. taking into account the implementation of proposed measures. (macauhub/MZ)