ExxonMobil’s head of upstream oil, gas due in Mozambique this week to meet authorities

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ExxonMobil’s head of upstream oil, gas due in Mozambique this week to meet authorities

1:45 CAT | 02 Nov 2021

File photo: Lusa

The head of drilling and extraction of oil company ExxonMobil is due to meet with Mozambican officials between Thursday and Friday in Maputo, after the US company said it would continue its presence in the African country.

A source from the Mozambican government said that Liam Mallon will meet with leaders of the mineral resources and energy sector, and there is also a possibility that he will be received by President, Filipe Nyusi.

Mallon heads ExxonMobil Upstream Oil & Gas and has led other areas, such as the Africa division and project development.

ExxonMobil executive chairman Darren Woods said on Friday that the company remains committed to the natural gas exploration project in Mozambique, despite the slippage in the timelines of the final investment decision.

“I wouldn’t put a lot of faith in the market rumours that you hear,” Woods said during a conference call with analysts, quoted by financial news agency Bloomberg, following a Wall Street Journal report pointing to a reassessment of the project by oil company management due to environmental and financial return concerns.

“There’s a lot of people talking. Most of them don’t have a good understanding of the discussions that we’re having.” Darren Woods added, while admitting there had been a “slippage” regarding the final investment decision (FID) of the onshore liquefaction project in Afungi – the FID being the moment from which the investment is practically irreversible.

ExxonMobil is part of the Area 4 consortium in the Rovuma basin, whose floating platform will start producing liquefied natural gas from 2022, with a forecast of three million tonnes per year (mtpa) corresponding to 10% of the total production expected if the other two onshore liquefaction projects are added (12.88 mtpa of TotalEnergies’ Area 1 and 15.2 mtpa of Area 4, which brings Exxon and ENI together).

Read: Exxon posts highest quarterly profit in years, but revenue disappoints

The armed insurgency affecting Cabo Delgado in the areas around the gas developments since 2017 led to the indefinite suspension of works on Area 1, the largest ongoing private investment in Africa, with some attacks being claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

Once realised, the gas projects together are estimated to represent around $50bn (€42.5bn) of investment in the Rovuma basin off the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

President Muhammadu Buhari in audience with President of Exxon Mobil on Upstream Oil and Gas, Mr Liam Mallon, in State House, Abuja, on 6th October 2021. pic.twitter.com/MWwQKPbCwr

— Ahmad Bello Sulaiman (@AhmadBeello) October 6, 2021