The tropical sea breeze of Luwuma Bay, wrapped in a salty and humid atmosphere, swept over the deck of the exploration ship, and the sonar screen clearly outlined the undulating contours of the underwater rock layers. The project teams of Italian ocean engineering giant Saipem and Belgian Jan De Nul have just received a letter of intent from ExxonMobil in their office in Maputo, Mozambique. The $12.7 million preliminary service order has landed on the table, allowing the long delayed development of the Luvuma LNG Phase I offshore to finally extend step by step from the lines on the drawings into the real deep sea.

Clarify every inch of the underwater pipeline's path

This letter of intent did not directly sign a multi billion dollar EPCI order, but instead entrusted the most critical preliminary work to two leading offshore companies. The engineering team will complete limited depth preliminary engineering design, pre procurement docking of core long-period equipment, and polishing of the full chain technical solution in the next few months, accurately determining the direction of each section of the submarine pipeline, the installation position of each set of manifolds, and the laying path of each umbilical cable.

After all the preparatory work is completed, the final EPCI contract for the project is only awaiting the final investment decision from the partners of Block 4 and the Mozambique regulatory authorities. This critical milestone is expected to be officially implemented within 2026.

18 subsea wells will connect East Africa's largest LNG transportation network

Underneath this deep sea lies the most abundant natural gas resources in East Africa. According to the development plan, 18 subsea production wells will be sequentially located at different depths of the seabed in the future, and the natural gas produced will be transported all the way to the onshore Luvuma LNG liquefaction plant through a criss crossing subsea pipeline network.

The entire project covers both shallow and deep water areas, with requirements for offshore installation capabilities that meet the world's top standards. Led by ExxonMobil, ENH、 The joint venture platform formed by PetroChina, Eni, and Korea Gas Corporation has already established a global resource collaboration network for the project. Keywords: natural gas development, oil and gas pipelines

When the first pipeline laying ship slowly enters the Bay of Luvuma and the first pipeline is firmly seated in the deep sea, this long dormant East African sea area will soon become the most eye-catching new growth pole in the global LNG supply chain.Editor/Cheng Liting