McDermott International has confirmed the award via a Joint Venture with Allseas of a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract for a major deepwater project offshore Mozambique.

The award was first unveiled by field operator Anadarko Petroleum in December for its Area 1 (Prosperidade) development in the Rovuma Basin (see DI, 24 December 2012, page 1). McDermott said that it had teamed up with Allseas to provide a robust project execution strategy for the FEED project, which will see the companies work together to provide a subsea natural gas pipeline system and subsea infrastructure installation project for Anadarko.

The companies were formally awarded the FEED contract by Anadarko this month. The Area 1 project is expected to transport gas from the deepwater Prosperidade development to a new greenfield Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility.

“The McDermott and Allseas team is very pleased with this recent award,” said Steven W. Roll, Vice President and General Manager, Atlantic. “The combination of both companies’ extensive worldwide subsea EPCI – Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation – experience, as well as our top tier engineering offices and fabrication facilities throughout the world, coupled with our respective fleets of subsea installation vessels, gave us the competitive edge to be able to design and manage the complexities and the critical interfaces of the Area 1 multiple work scopes.”

McDermott and Allseas expect the FEED to be completed in the third quarter of this year, said the US contractor. Thereafter the companies will have an opportunity to bid for the full EPCI scope of the Area 1 development.

Area 1 is 36.5%-owned and operated by Anadarko, in partnership with Mitsui E&P (20%), BPRL Ventures (10%), Videocon MozambiqueRovuma 1 (10%), PTTEP (8.5%) and Mozambique’s Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (15%).

Anadarko and Italy’s Eni reached a Heads of Agreement (HOA) for off- shore Area 1 last month, they announced, establishing the foundations for a co-ordinated development of the area’s massive gas reserves spanning both Area 1 (operated by Anadarko) and Area 4 (operated by Eni). The two companies will conduct separate yet co-ordinated offshore field development activities, while jointly planning and constructing common onshore liquefaction facilities in the form of a major LNG park in the Cabo Delgado Province in the north of Mozambique.

Other offshore winners for installation FEEDS announced last month also included Technip; and a JV between Subsea 7 and Saipem.