The Mozambique LNG project comprises the Golfinho-Atum gas field development in the offshore Area 1 Block of the deep-water Rovuma Basin and the construction of a 12.88 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) onshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the Cabo Delgado coast of Mozambique.

French oil and gas company Total holds a majority stake in the Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1 development consortium and is the operator of the project.

The final investment decision (FID) on the Mozambique LNG project, which is estimated to cost approximately £15.5bn ($20bn), was taken in June 2019. Construction works on the integrated LNG project were started in August 2019, with the start of production scheduled for 2024.

Mozambique LNG will be the first onshore LNG facility in Mozambique. The other major LNG projects sanctioned for development in the country are the Rovuma LNG project and the Coral South FLNG project, both of which form part of the Area 4 development of the Rovuma Basin, offshore Mozambique.

Project Gallery

Mozambique Rovuma Offshore Area 1 development partners

Total holds 26.5% interest in the Rovuma Area 1 exploration and production concession. The other licensees are ENH Rovuma Área Um (15%), Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area1 (20%), ONGC Videsh (10%), Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique (10%), Bharat Petroresources Limited (BPRL) Ventures Mozambique (10%), and PTTEP Mozambique Area 1 (8.5%).

Anadarko Petroleum (now Occidental Petroleum) was previously the operator of the project. Total acquired Anadarko's 26.5% operated interest in the Rovuma LNG project for £3.1bn ($3.9bn) in September 2019.

Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique (BREM) is a joint venture between ONGC Videsh (60%) and Oil India Limited (OIL, 40%), while BPRL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum, another state-controlled oil and gas company of India.

Mozambique LNG development history

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Area 1 Mozambique LNG project was carried out between 2011 and 2014.

The Mozambican Ministry of Coordination of Environmental Affairs (MICOA) approved the EIA report in June 2014, while the concessions to design, build and operate the marine facilities for the project were secured from the Government of Mozambique in July 2017.

The Government of Mozambique gave the final approval for the Area 1 Mozambique LNG development plan in March 2018.

Area 1 Mozambique LNG project location and site details

The Golfinho and Atum gas fields are located in 1,600m-deep waters within the Rovuma Basin Area 1, approximately 40km off the coast of Cabo Delgado. The Offshore Area-1 is estimated to contain 75 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas resources.

The LNG processing and export facility will be developed in the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado, the northernmost province of Mozambique.

Mozambique LNG facility details

The Area 1 Mozambique LNG facility will consist of two liquefaction trains with a combined nameplate capacity of 12.88Mtpa in the initial phase. It will also house gas pre-treatment facilities and full-containment LNG storage tanks. The LNG production capacity of the facility is proposed to be further expanded up to 50Mtpa in future.

The plant will receive feed gas supply from the Golfinho-Atum gas field through pipeline and produce LNG for export to the Asian and European markets, as well as for domestic consumption in Mozambique.

Other support facilities for the LNG plant will include materials offloading facility and an LNG marine terminal capable of accommodating large LNG carriers, which will also be shared with upcoming Area 4 LNG projects.

LNG off-take

The Area 1 Mozambique LNG project is backed with 11.1Mtpa of long-term LNG off-take agreements.

The customers for the project include Electricite de France (EDF, 1.2Mtpa), Japan’s JERA and Taiwan’s CPC Corporation (1.6Mtpa), CNOOC Gas and Power Singapore (1.5Mtpa), Tokyo Gas and Centrica (2.6Mtpa), Shell International Trading Middle East (2Mtpa), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (1Mtpa), and Indonesia’s Pertamina (1Mtpa).

Previous operator Andarko also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Mozambique in December 2015, to provide 100 million cubic feet of gas a day (Mmcfd) from the facility for domestic consumption.

Contractors involved in the Mozambique LNG facility

A consortium of McDermott, Chiyoda Corporation, and Saipem is responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the onshore liquefaction plant along with its support facilities.

Consortium leader Saipem's share of the EPC contract awarded in June 2019 is worth £4.7bn ($6bn), while that of McDermott is valued at £1.5bn ($2bn).

The joint venture of CB&I (now McDermott), Chiyoda and Saipem (CCS JV) also provided the front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the LNG facility.

Worley, a global engineering company based in Australia, was contracted by Total to provide engineering and consulting services for the delivery of onshore as well as subsea facilities for the Mozambique LNG project in February 2020.

Subsea contractors and suppliers

TechnipFMC, in consortium with Van Oord, is the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) contractor for the offshore subsea system for the project. Allseas will be engaged as a major subcontractor for the offshore installation works.

TechnipFMC will also provide subsea trees, subsea controls systems, production manifolds, subsea connectors, as well as completion workover riser & installation workover control system for the subsea gathering system, through its subsidiary FMC Technologies.

Oceaneering International is the supplier of subsea umbilicals and distribution hardware, while Advanced Technology Valve will provide pipeline subsea ball and subsea gate valves.

Cameron Italy will supply the subsea chemical injection metering valves for the Area 1 Mozambique LNG project.