According to the official Facebook page of Filipe Nyusi, he met with ExxonMobil’s upstream president Liam Mallon on Wednesday to discuss the onshore LNG project in Cabo Delgado.
“We focused our discussions on the initial engineering phase of the project, now with plans to finalize approvals and make the final investment decision in 2026,” Nyusi said.
“Showing significant progress, it was reiterated that this project will be one of the least polluting initiatives with all the potential for a promising future in the liquefied natural gas sector,” he said.
Last year, ExxonMobil’s units in Mozambique has invited firms to submit their expression of interest for a FEED contract for the Rovuma LNG project that now has a boosted capacity compared to previous plans.
Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV) is the operator of the deepwater Area 4 block in the Rovuma basin off Mozambique that would feed the planned LNG export plant on the Afungi peninsula from the Mamba reservoirs.
The joint venture is owned by Eni, ExxonMobil and CNPC, and holds a 70 percent interest in the Area 4 exploration and production concession contract.
In addition to MRV, Galp, Kogas, and Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos each hold a 10 percent interest in Area 4.
ExxonMobil is leading the construction and operation of the liquefaction and related facilities on behalf of MRV, and Eni is leading the construction and operation of the upstream facilities.
Delayed project
Back in 2019, the JV awarded a contract for the engineering, procurement and construction for the Rovuma LNG onshore production complex to a consortium made up of JGC, Fluor, and TechnipFMC (JFT).
This award enabled the start of activities for the Rovuma LNG project, but the project has been delayed for years due to the Covid-19 pandemic and security concerns, and the partners did not take a final investment decision.
However, ExxonMobil, Eni, and their partners resumed the development of the giant project said to be worth more than $22 billion.
In the meantime, Mozambique also became an LNG exporter. In 2022, Eni’s 3.4 mtpa Coral Sul FLNG located offshore Mozambique shipped its first cargo of liquefied natural gas.
This project receives supplies from the Coral South reservoir in Area 4 and Eni and its partners are planning a second floating LNG producer as well.
TotalEnergies is also working to restart work on its giant $20 billion Mozambique LNG export project after it declared force majeure on the project in April 2021 and withdrew all personnel from the site due to new attacks.
Contracts
ExxonMobil and its partners previously said that the project includes construction of two natural gas liquefaction trains, with a total nameplate capacity of 15.2 million tonnes per year and associated onshore facilities.
However, the partners are now planning an onshore LNG plant with multiple liquefaction units each with about 1.5 mtpa nominal design capacity, for a total of up to 18 mtpa for the first phase of the project.
ExxonMobil’s unit in Mozambique revealed this in a announcement released last year inviting interested companies to submit their expression of interest to provide front-end engineering design and a potential engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning for the midstream portion of the project’s first phase.
Technip Energies CEO Arnaud Pieton recently confirmed that “there is a FEED competition ongoing in Mozambique and we are one of the two contenders.”
According to the website of ExxonMobil Mozambique, the company has in June launched three tenders for work on the upstream part of the Rovuma LNG project.
The company invited companies to submit bids to provide supply of subsea seamless (SMLS) steel line pipe and technical support for installation for the upstream portion of the Mozambique Rovuma LNG Phase 1 project.
Moreover, the company issued a tender for the supply of mechanically lined pipe (MLP) and/or hot roll bonded (HRB) pipe and technical support for installation for the upstream portion as well as the supply of submerged arc welded (SAW) line pipe.
Prior to these tenders, the company invited companies to submit bids for the provision of the deepwater connection system, the deepwater valves, as well as the provision of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services of early works.
