Anadarko Petroleum, the U.S. independent energy group in the midst of a takeover battle, said on Wednesday it was ready to make a final investment decision on its $20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Mozambique on June 18.
Chief executive Al Walker met Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi on Tuesday, a statement from Anadarko said. A final investment decision by Anadarko on the Mozambique LNG project would be the largest outside of North America since 2013.
“With commitments for financing in place, off-take secured, and all other issues under negotiation successfully addressed, we are excited to take the next step with the expected announcement of a Final Investment Decision (FID) for the Mozambique LNG project on June 18,” Walker said.
Anadarko had been finalising the financing for the huge LNG export terminal when Chevron Corp announced a bid for the company.
That bid was quickly followed by another from Occidental Petroleum, which went on to agree with Total SA to sell Anadarko’s Africa assets to the French oil major should it succeed in taking Anadarko over.
The LNG project, together with another export terminal planned by Exxon Mobil close by, will turn Mozambique into a top global LNG producer.
Anadarko’s partners in the Mozambique LNG project are Mitsui, Mozambique state energy company ENH, Thailand’s PTT and Indian energy firms ONGC, Bharat Petroleum Resources and Oil India.
Update: In June 2019, Anadarko and the co-venturers in Mozambique’s Offshore Area 1 proceeded to start the Area 1 Mozambique LNG project, Mozambique’s first onshore LNG development, to support the development of the Golfinho gas field and Atum gas field.
In August 2019, however, Anadarko was acquired by Occidental Petroleum after Occidental outbid Chevron Corporation. Occidental in September then sold Anadarko’s Mozambique LNG Stake to Total: Occidental has completed the sale of Anadarko’s Mozambique LNG stake to Total S.A. (“Total”), for $3.9 billion.
As previously announced, Occidental entered into a binding agreement to sell Anadarko’s African assets to Total for $8.8 billion. Following the completion of the Mozambique transaction, Occidental and Total continue to work towards closing the remaining Africa transactions in Algeria, Ghana and South Africa pursuant to the definitive agreement signed in August 2019.
