LNG technology and equipment company Air Products has won a contract to deliver heat exchangers for the Total-operated LNG development in Mozambique.

The company has signed an agreement to provide its proprietary LNG technology, equipment and related process license and advisory services to the Mozambique LNG Project.

Air Products’ LNG manufacturing facility in Port Manatee, Florida will manufacture two LNG heat exchangers, which will then be shipped to the project site on the Afungi Peninsula in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. This LNG production facility will be the first onshore LNG Project in the Republic of Mozambique in Southeast Africa and it will initially consist of two LNG trains with a total nameplate capacity of 12.88 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to support the development of the Golfinho/Atum fields located entirely within Offshore Area 1.

The Mozambique LNG project was previously operated by Anadarko, who made the final investment decision for the project in 2019, with Wood Mackenzie at the time estimated the project would take $20 billion to develop.  Anadarko was subsequently bought by Oxy, which sold Anadarko’s assets in Africa to Total. Total closed the acquisition of Anadarko’s 26.5 per cent operated interest in the Mozambique LNG project for a purchase price of $ 3.9 billion in September 2019.

Air Products’ Port Manatee LNG heat exchanger manufacturing facility. (Photo: Air Products)

Under the agreement with EPC contractor CCS JV, a limited liability company incorporated under the laws of Italy and formed by a joint venture comprised of affiliates of Saipem, McDermott and Chiyoda, Air Products will provide two of its proprietary coil wound main cryogenic heat exchangers (MCHE) for the Project. The MCHEs will operate at the site as part of two separate LNG production trains designed to produce approximately 13 mtpa liquified natural gas in total from the Golfinho/Atum natural gas fields in Mozambique.

CCS JV is a consortium between Saipem, McDermott, and Chiyoda, contracted by Total E&P Mozambique Area 1 for Engineering, Procurement and Construction of Mozambique LNG project.

“Air Products’ expertise in LNG is well regarded by the industry and we are pleased to have been selected for this project. Our LNG heat exchangers are in operation around the world, and when this project goes onstream we can add Mozambique to the growing list of countries where we play a key role in meeting the world’s clean energy needs through the production of LNG. Our LNG business is encouraged by the activity in the market and customers should know that Air Products’ expanded manufacturing facility is capable of addressing their LNG technological needs anywhere in the world,” said Dr Samir Serhan, executive vice president at Air Products.

Roberto Uberti, CCS JV Chairman, commented: “We have been tasked with building the first onshore LNG export facility in Mozambique and one of the most efficient facilities in the LNG space. We are carefully selecting reliable and experienced technology providers and under this perspective the benefits of Air Products involvement are clearly consistent.”

Air Products will build the MCHEs at its Port Manatee, Florida manufacturing facility. Air Products opened its Port Manatee facility in January 2014. In October 2018, Air Products dedicated a new LNG equipment test facility (ETF) and a held a groundbreaking for a facility manufacturing expansion project at the site, which is now complete and operational.

Air Products is also involved with the Coral South floating LNG (FLNG) project, the first offshore FLNG project in Mozambique, which is expected to begin production in 2022.

Air Products’ proprietary LNG technology, vital to helping meet the world’s increasing energy needs and desire for clean energy, processes and cryogenically liquefies valuable natural gas for consumer and industrial use. For over 50 years Air Products has manufactured LNG heat exchangers operated in 20 countries around the world.

Typically, an LNG heat exchanger can be as large as over 15 feet in diameter and 180 feet long, or about two-thirds of the size of a football field. A finished unit can weigh as much as 500 tons.

Air Products’ LNG process technology and equipment is the heart of an LNG production plant. The technology, in place at some of the most remote locations around the world, takes natural gas and unlocks its value by liquefying it and making it possible to economically ship it. The LNG is eventually re-gasified for energy use.

A majority of total worldwide LNG is produced with Air Products’ technology. In support of the LNG industry, Air Products provides process technology and key equipment for the natural gas liquefaction process for large export plants, small and mid-sized LNG plants, floating LNG plants and LNG peak shavers. Upstream, Air Products provides both nitrogen and natural gas dehydration membrane systems for offshore platforms. Downstream, Air Products provides membrane nitrogen generators for LNG carriers, and land-based membrane and cryogenic nitrogen systems for LNG import terminals and baseload LNG plants.