Page 16 - AfrOil Week 29 2022

AfrOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES AfrOil

ExxonMobil’s current plans envision an LNG plant with two large production trains (Screenshot from ExxonMobil video)

These concerns aree especially strong, they [that] the duration of the construction period is
said, in light of the insurgency in Mozambique’s less. So instead of five and half years for mega-
northern Cabo Delgado Province, which forced trains, you’re looking at three years.”
TotalEnergies (France) to halt construction Another source took a different view on
and declare force majeure on its own project – costs, saying it was possible that modular con-
Mozambique LNG, which targets gas fields in struction might actually turn out to be more
the same basin – last year. expensive than conventional methods. He
Modular construction could help mitigate all did not explain his remark, but he did say that
these concerns, the sources asserted. ExxonMobil might be willing to pay the higher
ExxonMobil had originally planned to build price if modular construction turned out to be
Rovuma LNG’s liquefaction plant as a conven- less vulnerable to attacks by insurgents than
tional onshore facility with two large-scale pro- Mozambique LNG’s large-scale plant had been.
duction trains, each with a capacity of 7.8mn The extra costs “may have to be accepted,” he
tonnes per year (tpy). The total cost of this commented.
scheme had been estimated at around $24bn, Meanwhile, one source pointed out that the
and the time needed for construction had been US super-major would have to make certain
estimated at five years or more. adjustments if it adopted the modular approach.
According to Upstream Online’s sources, Port facilities in Cabo Delgado will have to be
ExxonMobil is now looking into the possibility expanded to handle the incoming modules,
of building a modular plant similar to the facil- since existing infrastructure does not have
ities that Venture Global (US) has built in the capacity adequate for this purpose, he explained
US, at Calcasieu Pass and elsewhere. A modular to Upstream Online.
plant would consist of multiple medium-scale ExxonMobil has yet to make a final invest-
production trains rather than one or two large- ment decision (FID) on the Rovuma LNG pro-
scale production trains, the sources said. It ject. As of press time, it was not clear when it
would be easier and cheaper to build, as each of might do so.
its modules could be pre-made, requiring less The shareholders in the Rovuma LNG pro-
assembly and ground-up construction at the ject are Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV),
worksite in Mozambique, they stated. a joint venture owned by ExxonMobil (the oper-
According to one source, this approach ator), Eni (Italy) and China National Petroleum
would reduce the time needed to complete the Corp. (CNPC), with 70%; and Galp (Portugal),
LNG plant from more than five years to about KOGAS (South Korea) and ENH, Mozam-
three years. “It’s a lot quicker and it’s the cheap- bique’s national oil company (NOC), each with
est way to build LNG trains,” he told Upstream 10%. The partners are developing three sections
Online. “You always need work at site; it’s just of the offshore Area 4 in the Rovuma basin. ™

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