U.S.-led joint ventures have won multiple front-end engineering and design, or FEED, contracts to build or install Mozambique's first liquefied-natural-gas facilities, both on- and offshore, as the scramble intensifies for additional sources of energy in Africa.

As part of a strategy to consolidate its gains in natural-gas exploration and production, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., a key player in Mozambique’s natural-gas sector, has selcted three contractors for offshore installation FEED contracts: Technip USA Inc.; a joint venture of Subsea 7 (U.S.) LLC and Saipem SA; and a joint venture of McDermott Inc. and Allseas Inc.

Anadarko, which did not release contract or project values, says the work will focus on the Area 1 subsea production systems for the Prosperidade complex.

The complex, with an estimated 17 to 30 trillion cu ft of natural gas, is one of two off the country's coast with proven reserves. The other is the Golfinho/Atum complex, which has an estimated reserve of 15 to 35 trillion cu ft.

“The FEEDs will each culminate with the delivery of a full engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning plan for the offshore Area 1 development,” says Anadarko's CEO, Al Walker.

Mozambique also is developing an onshore LNG park, which, when completed, will have the capacity to produce 50 million tonnes a year.

For that project's FEED contracts, Anadarko selected a joint venture of JGC Corp. and Fluor Corp.; a joint venture of an affiliate of CB&I and Chiyoda Corp.; and Bechtel Corp.

No contract or project values have been released for these projects.

The designs will pave the way for construction of a 20-million-tonne LNG facility comprising four liquefaction trains, with a capacity of five million metric tonnes per train, according to Bechtel. Capacity could be expanded to 50 million tonnes.

“The Mozambique LNG FEED award builds on Bechtel’s extensive experience in LNG and in Africa, where we have worked for more than 50 years,” said Jack Futcher, president of the company's oil, gas and chemicals business unit, in a statement in January.

Bechtel said its FEED contract is for the initial phase of the onshore LNG facility to be built in Mozambique's northeast province of Cabo Delgado.

It could not be confirmed immediately when the project will break ground, although Anadarko says the facility's first commercial LNG sale is tentatively planned for 2018.

According to an online energy publication, one Anadarko official said Mozambique could become the world's largest LNG exporter, after Australia and Qatar, in a decade.

The article added that the country's gas industry could attract up to $30 billion in investment between now and 2018.