MAIRE Group subsidiary Tecnimont has signed a Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) contract for the planned Argent LNG export facility, Hydrocarbon Engineering reported. The award moves the project from conceptual planning into preliminary engineering, a standard pre-FID step for greenfield LNG developers.

FEED contracts define the technical scope, capital cost estimates and execution schedule that backers use to size the commercial commitments behind a final investment decision. For LNG export proposals, the output typically specifies liquefaction train capacity, storage configuration, jetty design and utility systems.

Tecnimont operates as the EPC arm of Italy-based MAIRE Group. The contractor has delivered refining, petrochemical and gas processing projects across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, though neither side has disclosed the contract value or the duration of the FEED work in this announcement.

Argent LNG has not set out the project's liquefaction capacity in million tonnes per annum, the export terminal's basin or coastal location, its upstream gas sourcing arrangement, or its offtake counterparties. Those details usually surface with the FEED output or at FID.

The signing is not an FID. Developers typically continue negotiating offtake, financing and EPC terms after FEED, with sanction to follow once those conditions close. Trade press tracking of comparable greenfield LNG proposals places FEED-to-FID cycles between 12 and 36 months, depending on commercial traction.

What does the FEED award cover?

The contract covers engineering definition of an LNG export facility rather than its construction. Scope typically includes process selection for the liquefaction trains, utility and power integration, storage tank sizing, marine jetty design and the interface with upstream gas treatment. The output gives developers a Class 3 cost estimate and a defined execution plan for the EPC phase.

FEED on a greenfield LNG train generally runs 9 to 18 months from kick-off, depending on liquefaction technology selection and the maturity of the upstream gas supply plan. MAIRE has executed similar scopes on regasification terminals and mid-scale liquefaction units in recent years, though it has not broken out this contract in its public order book.

What is still unknown?

• Liquefaction nameplate capacity in mtpa
• Terminal site, basin and jetty location
• Upstream gas supplier and pipeline offtake route
• Equity structure and project financing arrangements
• Target FID date and EPC contractor selection

What to watch

The next disclosure points are the FEED scope summary, any offtake heads of agreement with Asian or Atlantic-basin LNG buyers, the FID announcement, and the permit record from the host jurisdiction. MAIRE's order intake and backlog reporting in 2025 results will offer an indirect read on contract value, since FEED awards feed into the group's reported order intake at signature.

The contract lands against a backdrop of projected 2026-2028 FID decisions on greenfield LNG capacity worldwide, in which engineering contractors have positioned for early-stage work to lock in execution slots. For MAIRE, the award adds another reference project to its LNG portfolio at a moment when the group has been reporting strong order intake tied to energy transition work.