US independent Anadarko has selected a preferred site for its 10 million tonnes per annum LNG plant in Mozambique.



Don Vardeman, head of global projects, told GE Oil & Gas’s annual meeting in Italy that a site south-east of Palma in Cabo ­Delgado province has won out ahead of a location to the north east. He said Anadarko has applied to Mozambique’s authorities to take control of the required land, which will be sufficient to host up to six trains although only two will be built initially.



Preparation of a detailed environmental impact assessment for the remote site on Afungi peninsula is under way.



Feedstock gas will initially come from the Windjammer, Barquentine and Lagosta discoveries in ­Offshore Area 1, where Anadarko believes it has now found at least 30 trillion cubic feet of recoverable reserves.



The company has appeared to focus on a semi-submersible production system to exploit these deep-water discoveries but Vardeman said “all floater options” are being ­assessed. Anadarko and Worley­Parsons are understood to be engaged in preliminary talks about a floating production unit able to handle about 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of gas in the first phase.



IntecSea is carrying out work on “the subsea side of things”, industry sources added.



KBR and Technip are locked in a competitive front-end engineering and design process for the LNG trains that will likely lead to one being selected as a turnkey contractor by the ­middle of this year.



Project approval from the government is expected by the end of 2012 while a final investment decision is forecast for the end of 2013.



The new plant is due to be ­operational in 2018.