ExxonMobil is evaluating commercial bids submitted just days ago by two groups battling to build a pair of mega-liquefaction trains for its $30 billion Rovuma liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique.

At the same time, the race to land a major contract covering Rovuma LNG’s umbilicals, flowlines and export pipelines is nearing its conclusion, with two consortia ahead of their rivals.

Industry sources said two groups — JGC with Fluor versus Chiyoda with McDermott and Saipem (CMS) — sent in their price offers on 25 March to the US giant, which is responsible for the midstream aspects of Rovuma LNG.

ExxonMobil is now going through the traditional clarification exercises, said sources, before deciding on its preferred bidder towards the middle of this year.

Up for grabs is a challenging contract to engineer, procure and construct a pair of 7.6 million tonne per annum trains at a greenfield site on the Afungi peninsula in Cabo Delgado province.

The same site will also host two smaller trains that underpin Anadarko Petroleum’s Mozambique LNG project, which will be built by the CMS joint venture.

Despite financial difficulties and a planned re-prioritisation of projects and risks, market watchers expect Japan’s Chiyoda to remain involved in the Mozambique LNG project and that it will remain involved in the Rovuma LNG tender process if its consortium wins the contract.

The Rovuma trains will be fed with gas from the 15 trillion cubic foot Mamba field, which lies in about 1600 metres of water in Area 4.

Three groups chasing the Mamba — or Rovuma LNG — subsea contract submitted commercial bids in December.

The contest now appears to be a battle between two groups — Saipem working with Subsea 7, and McDermott in partnership with Allseas.

A combination of Sapura and Petrofac is said to be out of the running while TechnipFMC is focused on finalising its Golfinho-Atum umbilical riser and gas export line contract with Anadarko in neighbouring Area 1.

Upstream was told that the Saipem-Subsea 7 pairing is in a good position while cautioning that nothing is definite yet.

“They are the guys to beat,” said one project watcher, while pointing out that McDermott-Allseas could yet “upset the applecart”.

“The fight is between McDermott and Saipem,” agreed another source.

There had been suggestions that Eni could make a recommendation on its preferred subsea contractor in the first half of March, but Upstream understands that the timetable has slipped.

“The Area 4 schedule has been very aggressive, but it looks like it’s going to slip,” remarked one country watcher.

Another source added: “Time is rolling on now and (ExxonMobil and Eni) have still got some way to go.”

Upstream previously reported that a final investment decision could possibly be taken on Rovuma LNG in May, but the timing has now been delayed to July at the earliest.

One key factor contributing to the delay is that the development plan has yet to be approved by Mozambique’s government.

“They have not got project approval which was forecast in March but has now slipped to May,” said a source.

The Mamba subsea contract is understood to have two phases, said a source, with the first valued at under $1.5 billion and the second phase having a price tag of about $500 million to $600 million.

The current workscope is unclear but is believed to be a little bigger than the scope that was subject to a tender process in 2014.

Under that plan, phase one involved 16 subsea wells feeding 12 trillion cubic feet of gas to shore via a pair of 22-inch, 56-kilometre pipelines, while phase two centred on another 16 wells sending gas to shore via the same pipelines.

This original workscope also included a 10-inch service line, two eight-inch mono-ethylene glycol lines plus eight 16-inch infield lines in deeper waters.

A key challenge for the subsea work is to lay pipelines over what one source described as “a huge, steep escarpment.”

The contract will cover front-end engineering and design optimisation work, the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of flowlines and pipelines, plus the installation of umbilicals and a subsea production system.

GE-controlled Baker Hughes will provide the subsea production system under an Area 4 framework deal signed with Eni in mid-2017.

Apart from ExxonMobil and Eni, the Rovuma LNG partners are China National Petroleum Corporation, state-owned ENH, South Korea’s Kogas and Lisbon-based Galp.

First exports from Rovuma LNG are currently expected to start in 2024.

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ExxonMobil weighs up rival Rovuma bids