The British Sponsor, a liquified natural gas (LNG) tanker that left the off-shore plant located in Cabo Delgado Mozambique just under a month ago, is docking in Spain’s Bilbao.
According to tracking data, the ship carrying 173 400m3 is docking in Bilbao at the Bilbao Anchorage after, “a voyage of 24 days, six hours originating from port Coral Sul-FLNG”.
The tanker is carrying Mozambique’s first LNG export under a long-term purchase and sale contract with British giant BP. The LNG was produced in Rovuma, in Mozambique, by the Coral Sul FLNG Project.
The plant is managed by the Italian energy company Eni. The first shipment despite the Islamic extremist-linked insurgency in Cabo Delgado, the LNG project is Mozambique’s economic magic bullet from the largest-ever found deposits in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The war in Ukraine rekindled Europe’s demand for African oil and gas, which could take up about 20% of Russian gas exports to Europe by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Meanwhile, in the UK, a legal challenge is being heard at the Court of Appeal over the UK government’s decision to approve about R19.6 billion ($1.15 billion) of financing for the mega-project in Mozambique.
The review filed by Friends of the Earth last December came to a deadlock in the courts so that it could be heard again in the Court of Appeal.
Friends of the Earth argue that financing was allowed after it was inappropriately judged to be in line with the Paris Agreement’s limit of global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, when in reality it could emit 3.3 billion to 4.5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the project’s lifecycle – more than the combined annual greenhouse gas emissions of all 27 EU countries.
“UKEF not only helped finance the project but it failed to measure all the emissions it would produce – misleading ministers about the scale of its impact. This is a complete failure of credible governance and morally unacceptable in a climate crisis.
“Climate assessments for fossil fuel projects must measure all the emissions, period. We need to understand the climate impacts of spending taxpayers’ money, so we can decline carbon-intensive investments like this and fund renewable energy projects instead,” said Friends of the Earth’s head of legal, Will Rundle.
Green Peace Africa, a lobby movement, has called on the world to resist the new scramble for African oil and gas and commit to net zero by 2050.