The joint venture comprised of McDermott International Inc., Saipem and Chiyoda has reached full agreement for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for the Mozambique Area 1 LNG development, McDermott said in a news release June 5.

The project scope includes the onshore EPC for all components of the onshore LNG development and the associated utilities and infrastructure. The project includes two LNG trains with a total nameplate capacity of 12.88 million tonnes per annum.

Teams from McDermott and Saipem will lead the project management, engineering and procurement in advance of sharing on-site construction management responsibilities from a new office in Milan, Italy, according to the release.

McDermott will perform engineering from London and Gurgaon, India, while Chiyoda will provide advisory services for the JV, the release said. Work at the site is expected to begin when Anadarko issues a notice to proceed after it takes a final investment decision (FID).

McDermott said its initial portion of the EPC contract award is about $2 billion. The award will be reflected in McDermott's backlog once Anadarko reaches FID, which is expected in June 2019.

The JV previously provided FEED services for the development.

Anadarko is the operator of Offshore Area 1. Partners include ENH Rovuma Área Um, S.A, Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area1 Ltd., ONGC Videsh Ltd., Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique Ltd., BPRL Ventures Mozambique B.V., and PTTEP Mozambique Area 1 Ltd.