Anadarko: $2.5bn Work For Mozambican Firms
Anadarko says it expects to award contracts worth some $2.5bn to Mozambican companies between 1H2019 - when it plans to takes final investment decision on its big Mozambique LNG venture - and 2024 when it hopes gas from its offshore Area 1 will start to be liquefied for export.
At a seminar convened to discuss opportunities available for local companies that the contracts held August 10 in Pemba, the main city in northern Mozambique, the US firm's country manager Steve Wilson said that work on its planned liquefaction complex on the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado province there will be available to companies that have the skills that meet its standards. Anadarko executive vice president Mitch Ingram added: "We are committed to supporting small and medium-sized Mozambican companies to reach international standards and seize opportunities with gas exploration."
Of that sum, $850mn has already been spent and $1.5bn has yet to be spent with local companies, said Ingram, according to local media reports.
The money will be spent during the process of building facilities for exploration in Area 1 which has about 75 trillion ft3 of recoverable natural gas. The facilities include a village for 560 households to be displaced as a result of the exploration. The company also aims to build an onshore complex on a 17,000-acre piece of land to liquefy gas pumped from its field some 17 km offshore.
In the initial phase, the facility will produce 12.88mn metric ton per year of LNG, but multiple trains - some of which are expected to be run by rival ExxonMobil for the Area 4 gas project - are expected to increase in time to 50mn mt/yr capacity. Anadarko will invest $30bn on the upstream project and 12.88mn mt/yr plant.
Although many Mozambican companies might struggle to meet Anadarko's qualification standards, Ingram said the firm will support them: "We will do whatever it takes to prevent the issue of certification from being a sticking point for Mozambican companies. We will start now, providing funds for the necessary training, including through events to support Mozambican businesses."
Operations in Cabo Delgado province face security risks, as highlighted by August 16 remarks by a local gas explorer Wentworth Resources and by a US embassy security alert in June.