ExxonMobil has given the go-ahead to two consortia to launch a front-end engineering and design contest on its huge Rovuma LNG project in Mozambique, at the end of which one will be awarded a prestigious contract to build the 18 million tonnes per annum plant.

The deepwater Mamba field in Area 4 will send gas to the onshore Rovuma LNG site at Afungi in Cabo Delgado province — the same one being used for TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG scheme — via a big export pipeline linked to a major subsea production system.

In late August, a consortium of Technip Energies and JGC was given the green light to start FEED studies, well-placed sources told Upstream.