Walter Kansteiner, Vice President of ExxonMobil, announced on Tuesday that the technical design for the natural gas extraction project in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, is expected to be completed within the next year.
ExxonMobil is spearheading the construction and operation of all future natural gas liquefaction facilities for the Rovuma Basin Area 4 deep-water block, which is located off the Cabo Delgado coast.
This project is operated by Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV), a joint venture comprising ExxonMobil, the Italian energy company ENI, and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
The project has faced multiple delays due to extreme violence perpetrated by Islamist militants in parts of Cabo Delgado.
Kansteiner made his remarks to reporters shortly after meeting with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, who is currently in New York for various events, including the United Nations General Assembly.
“We announced our Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for the project, which typically takes about a year.
We look forward to significant progress on FEED over the next 12 to 13 months,” he stated, as reported by the Portuguese News Agency (LUSA).
In August, Liam Mallon, the chairperson of ExxonMobil in Mozambique, indicated that the company plans to resume its projects in Cabo Delgado by the end of 2026.
The project includes a substantial onshore LNG plant with a production capacity of 18 to 19 million tonnes of LNG per year, extensive underwater drilling wells to supply the plant, and two large floating LNG export platforms off the Cabo Delgado coast.
