Three Mainland Chinese lenders will help finance a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the coast of Mozambique, the online edition of The Asset magazine reports.

The financial services magazine reports the Bank of China Ltd., China Development Bank Corp. and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. are part of multibillion-dollar syndicated loan to finance the Coral South project being developed by Italian energy company Eni. The China National Petroleum Corp. also holds a stake in the project.

At an estimated cost of US$8 billion, the project includes six subsea wells connected to the floating production facility. The platform will be built in South Korea and the loan will cover 60 percent of the cost.

The loan has guarantees from five export credit agencies: Export-Import Bank of China, France’s Coface, the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation and SACE of Italy.

The LNG produced by Coral South will be sold to BP plc for a period exceeding 20 years.