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AfrElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec

Mozambique expects FID on

Rovuma LNG next year

MOZAMBIQUE MOZAMBIQUE expects Rovuma LNG FID 3.4mn tonnes per year (tpy).
next year When ExxonMobil first announced that
Mozambique’s National Petroleum Institute Rovuma had been delayed, it noted that Coral
has said this week that it expects ExxonMobil to South remained on track.
make a final investment decision (FID) on the The two-train Rovuma LNG project will have
Rovuma LNG project next year. However, the a capacity of 7.6mn tpy. It had previously been
super-major has dismissed the comments as anticipated to start up in 2025, but the schedule
speculation. This comes after it recently pushed will now be adjusted to account for the delay in
back the FID – which had been expected this reaching FID.
year – in the wake of the oil price collapse when The 12.9mn tpy Mozambique LNG is due to
it announced it would cut its capital expenditure come online in 2024. Operator Total recently
budget for 2020 by around 30%. had to cut personnel at the site and scale down
“The final investment decision of the Rovuma activity after an outbreak of COVID-19 among
LNG project has been postponed to, in princi- its staff.
ple, next year,” the institute’s chairman, Car- COVID-19 is not the only obstacle for the
los Zacarias, told media. In response, Reuters LNG developers in Mozambique. In gas-rich
reported an ExxonMobil spokesman as describ- Cabo Delgado Province, where the LNG projects
ing the comments as “third-party speculation”. are being developed, an Islamist insurgency has
The spokesman added that “Rovuma LNG is a been underway since 2017, and now appears to
complex project that will take several years to be escalating.
develop”. He did not specify when an FID could In April, the insurgents stepped up from
be made, beyond the fact that it would not be attacking remote villages to appearing in major
this year. But his dismissal of Zacarias’ com- towns in the province and have started publicis-
ments suggests that perhaps it will not be next ing their aim of replacing the Mozambican gov-
year either. ernment with an Islamic one.
Mozambique – one of the world’s least It comes amid rising concerns among locals
developed countries – is counting on LNG to over how the income generated by the LNG pro-
become a major new source of exports and rev- jects will be spent and whether locals will see any
enue. However, the coronavirus (COVID-19) benefits.
pandemic has slowed momentum somewhat. The insurgents have not targeted the LNG
Nonetheless, progress is being made, and two industry this year, but last year separate attacks
other liquefaction projects are currently under on convoys resulted in the death of an Anadarko
construction in the same area where Rovuma Petroleum consultant, as well as several people
would be located – Mozambique LNG and Coral being injured.
South floating LNG (FLNG). If Mozambique fails to bring the insurgency
Indeed, ExxonMobil is also involved in the under control, additional security costs and
Eni-led Coral South, which is due to enter service measures will become an increasingly important
in 2022. The FLNG vessel being used for Coral consideration for the developers of the country’s
South will be the first to be deployed in deep LNG projects.™
waters offshore Africa. It will have a capacity of

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 23 11•June•2020