Mozambique has prequalified 12 companies — including Exxon Mobil, Total Energies, three Chinese majors and Russian duo Rosneft and Novatek — to bid in its sixth oil and gas licensing round which is due to wrap up by late August.
The list of companies published Wednesday by Mozambique’s National Petroleum Institute (INP) is split equally between operators and non-operators.The prequalified operators are: China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), Sinopec, Eni, Exxon, Petrochina and Total.
The prequalified non-operators are RN Angoche (a Singapore-based subsidiary of Rosneft), Novatek, Qatar Petroleum, South Africa’s Sasol, India’s ONGC, and upstream independent Discover Exploration.
The tender, which was launched at the end of last year, consists of 16 offshore blocks that are classified as concessions.
Five are located in the prolific Rovuma Basin in the northeastern region of Cabo Delgado, which is home to most of Mozambique’s substantial discovered gas resources.
Seven are located in the Angoche region further south, two in the Zambezi Delta and two in the Save area further south.
The fact that all of the named operators are industry heavyweights underlines the enduring attractiveness of Mozambique, which hopes to become a major producer of LNG in the company years, based on several big deepwater gas discoveries.
Total, Exxon, Eni and Petrochina’s parent China National Petroleum Corp. are all big players in ongoing LNG projects with investments worth more than $50 billion at stake.
But these projects are overshadowed by a violent insurgency in Cabo Delgado, which has left more than 3,000 people dead since it started over five years ago.
In April 2021, Total declared force majeure on the Mozambique LNG project after a series of attacks near its local headquarters in the Afungi Peninsula. Work is due to restart later this year, but the timing remains unclear.
Exxon has deferred a final investment decision on the Rovuma LNG project, due to concerns over security and difficulties in obtaining debt financing.
On a brighter note, Eni expects to start production of LNG from its Coral South project later this year via a floating LNG unit that arrived from South Korea in January.
