SIMIC

For Mozambique, it marks the end of a decade-long wait to monetise one of Africa's largest offshore gas fields because of ISIS insurgency threatens mining towns in the interior.

Muslim insurgents last month attacked a ruby mine that Gemrock Mozambique operates 170 miles southwest of the natural gas projects, causing "panic and chaos" where they torched heavy equipment.

Yet the UK-flagged 174-000 cubic metre capacity British Sponsor arrived last month in waters off northern Mozambique, to link up to the Bahamas-flagged 346,165-gross ton Coral-Sul Floating LNG vessel.

The supply ship is operated by Rome-based Eni SpA, which started producing the super-chilled fuel. BP, which has the rights to buy all of Coral-Sul's output.

"The first shipment is a significant step in Eni's strategy to contribute to Europe's energy security," said Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi.

The production platform has a capacity of 3.4 million tons per year of LNG - equal to about one-third of the UK's imports last year.

Fears of European shortages this winter have eased in recent weeks thanks to deep reserves, continued imports, and unseasonably warm weather, according to an emailed note from Eurasia Group.

The natural gas fields off Mozambique's northern coast were previously expected to transform the country's economy by attracting US$120 billion of investment. Each of the more than $20 billion onshore production facilities that TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil have planned are worth more than Mozambique's GDP, but both have stalled because an Islamic State-linked insurgency.

The war that started in 2017 peaked in March last year, when the rebels raided a town next to the LNG developments, prompting TotalEnergies to withdraw staff. Since then, military help from Rwanda and a regional bloc have dislodged the insurgents from key towns and bases deep in the forest.