Mozambique LNG1, a sales entity jointly owned by co-venturers in the Mozambique Offshore Area 1, has signed a sale and purchase agreement with CNOOC Gas and Power Singapore. Area 1 operator Anadarko said the agreement covers a supply of 1.5 mtpa over a 13-year term.
Mozambique LNG will be the country’s first onshore LNG development. The facility will be equipped with two LNG trains with a total nameplate capacity of 12.88 mtpa to support the development of the Golfinho/Atum fields, which are located entirely within Offshore Area 1. Approximately 75 Tcf of recoverable natural gas has been discovered in Offshore Area 1, the equivalent of 12 billion bbl of oil. Flow tests in the Prosperidade and Golfino/Atum complexes flowed at facility-constrained rates of 90 to 100 MMcf/D, which supports well designs of 100 to 200 MMcf/D.
Other partners in the project include ENH, Mitsui, ONGC, PTTEP, and Oil India.
“Mozambique LNG is extremely pleased to have CNOOC onboard as one of our foundation customers,” Mitch Ingram, Anadarko executive vice president of international, deepwater, and exploration, said in a statement. “This deal gives China’s largest LNG importer access to Mozambique’s LNG world-class gas resources, which are strategically located off the east coast of Africa, and will provide China with a clean source of energy for years to come.”
Offshore Area 1 is located within the Rovuma Basin, approximately 25 mi offshore northern Mozambique. The facility will be developed near Palma, a town on the Afungi Peninsula near the Tanzanian border. Anadarko plans to spend at least $20 billion on the project, according to a Bloomberg report. It expects to make a final investment decision in the first half of this year. The company allotted $200 million for the project in 2019 to cover costs associated with ongoing site preparation for the shared Mozambique LNG onshore facilities.
Palma has seen significant unrest recently, as a shadow insurgency has killed more than 100 people and destroyed hundreds of homes in the area. Anadarko and other companies working in the region, including Eni, said that their installations have not been affected by the unrest, but the attacks reached a village less than 3.1 mi away from an Anadarko worker camp in January. Human Rights Watch reported that thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of the insurgency in October 2017.
Bloomberg also reported last week (31 January) that Anadarko had called for expressions of interest from potential suppliers of B6 specification vehicles, armored cars capable of stopping AK-47 bullets, as well as associated fleet management services for the Mozambique LNG project. Anadarko declined to discuss the request in detail when contacted by Bloomberg.