New York, Sept. 24, 2024 (Lusa) - ExxonMobil expects to complete the technical design of the natural gas extraction project in northern Mozambique within a year, the vice-president of the US oil company, Walter Kansteiner, has announced.

"We've announced our FEED - Front End Engineering Design, our front end engineering and design [of the project], and that takes about a year. So we're looking forward to progress on FEED over the next 12 or 13 months," said ExxonMobil's vice-president for external relations, speaking to journalists on Monday in New York after a meeting with Mozambique's president, Filipe Nyusi, who was on the last day of a visit to the US.

Exxon's project in Cabo Delgado - the northern province affected by terrorist attacks for almost seven years now - was initially expected to produce 15.2 million tonnes of gas a year, but the company is now forecasting annual production of 18 million tonnes.

In August, Nyusi had said that ExxonMobil did not expect to make a decision on the natural gas extraction project in northern Mozambique until 2026.

The head of state, who received the president of ExxonMobil Upstream, Liam Mallon, in Maputo on 14 August, explained at the time that he had discussed with the head of the US oil company "progress on the LNG project" in the Rovuma basin in Cabo Delgado.

"We focused our discussions on the initial engineering phase of the project, now with plans to finalise approvals and take the Final Investment Decision by 2026. With 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," explained Nyusi.

ExxonMobil's general manager in Mozambique, Arne Gibbs, had said on 3 May that a decision on the investment could be made by the end of 2025.

"We are optimistic - we are moving forward - but we recognise that there are still challenges," he said, adding that the Final Investment Decision was not expected until the end of next year.

The comments from Gibbs came in the same week that the president of Mozambique said that funding is no reason to delay the implementation of the natural gas megaprojects, led by France's TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil.

"It's fundamental [to go ahead with the projects], because it can't be a problem of financial decisions now, associated with the terrorist situation," said Nyusi at the 10th Mozambique Mining and Energy Conference and Exhibition. "This project already existed, it's old. That means there was clarity in its execution. It can't run aground for this reason, let's look for others." 

Specifically, he called on the concessionaires of Area 1, led by TotalEnergies, in view of the "gradual promising stability" on the Afungi peninsula, in the district of Palma, Cabo Delgado, to "accelerate the development of the resumption of onshore projects." 

In Area 4 onshore, led by ExxonMobil, he said, "the process leading to the Final Investment Decision should be accelerated, with the necessary adjustments to the Development Plan approved in 2018."

In the same conference speech, the head of state said that the "delay" in realising this type of project "causes problems" because the "expectations of the countries are enormous" and "people think that part of their problem may have been solved."

In previous statements, ExxonMobil's Gibbs has confirmed that the oil company had completed the preliminary engineering and design work for the 18 million tonne per year project in the Rovuma basin, and that the group of engineers and designers would begin the project "in the coming months."

On the insurgency that halted construction in March 2021, Gibbs commented: "There have been significant improvements in the safety situation since we started in 2021, and we know there is still more work to be done."

The Rovuma LNG project, he noted, will be "the largest liquefied natural gas project in Africa, and could be the largest project in African history."

Mozambique has three development projects approved to exploit the natural gas reserves of the Rovuma basin, classified among the largest in the world, off the coast of Cabo Delgado.

PVJ/ARO // ARO.

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