American oil giant ExxonMobil has expressed optimism about the engineering progress of the Rovuma basin LNG project situated in northern Mozambique.
On the sidelines of a health, safety and environment training programme supported by ExxonMobil in Maputo on Thursday, the company’s director of LNG operations, Justin Cloutier, spoke to reporters. He shared insights on the programme and its importance to ExxonMobil’s work in the region.
“We are currently working on the design. We are very optimistic about the project and are putting a lot of energy and effort into it. We expect positive results”, Cloutier said.
The Rovuma Basin project is run by Mozambique Rovuma Venture, a consortium of Eni, ExxonMobil and China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Corporation (CNPC) which is led by US-based consulting firm, McDermott.
The engineering design of the mega natural gas production project is scheduled for completion this year, ahead of the final investment decision (FDI).
The vice president of the US oil company, Walter Kansteiner, confirmed this in September last year, following a meeting with the then-Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, that ExxonMobil anticipates completing the technical design of this project within a year.
“We have announced our FEED – Front End Engineering Design, our cutting-edge engineering and design [of the project], and that takes about a year. So we look forward to progress on FEED over the next 12 or 13 months,” Kansteiner said.
“The Rovuma LNG Phase 1 project represents a significant development for the country and provides a significant opportunity for economic growth. The project includes the liquefaction and export of natural gas extracted from the Area 4 offshore fields off the Afungi peninsula in Mozambique [Cabo Delgado],” McDermott said in a statement.
The Rovuma Mozambique LNG project will produce, liquefy and market natural gas from three reservoirs of the Mamba complex located in the Area 4 block in the offshore Rovuma Basin.
The project includes construction of two natural gas liquefaction trains, with a total LNG nameplate capacity of 15.2 million tonnes annually and associated onshore facilities.
The venture also announced it has received government approval of LNG sales and purchase agreements for the total capacity of the Rovuma LNG project.
Mozambique has already generated over $206 million from sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Rovuma basin project.
