Work Begins on Congo's First LNG Project

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Construction has officially begun on the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) first liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

H.E. Denis Sassou Nguesso, president of the Republic of Congo, and Italy's global oil and gas major Eni (NYSE:E) (Rome, Italy), laid the foundation stone at Pointe-Noire on the country's Atlantic coast. The Congo LNG project is part of the wider Marine XII offshore gas field development that will see gas exported to Europe and used locally for power generation. The DRC is the third-largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa, after Nigeria and Angola.

The project will involve the installation of two floating LNG (FLNG) plants to process gas coming from the Nenè and Litchendjili fields, which are currently in production, as well as future fields that come online. The nearshore development will comprise the positioning of the Tango FLNG, the gas pre-treatment plant, installation of an additional platform and the drilling of 12 wells.

Earlier this year, Eni signed a long-term-production-solutions contract with Expro Group Holdings (NYSE:XPRO) (Houston, Texas) to design, construct, operate, and maintain a fast-track onshore LNG pretreatment facility (OPT) at Pointe-Noire. The OPT facility, which will be linked to the FLNGs, will be located near the Litchendjili gas plant--which supplies gas to the adjacent Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC) Pointe-Noire Power Plant--and will enable the production of LNG to significantly increase from the West Africa area, according to Expro.

The offshore development will see the positioning of a second FLNG vessel, the installation of eight additional platforms and the drilling of 29 wells. The FLNG vessels have production capacity of 0.6 million tons per annum (mtpa) and 2.4 mtpa, respectively, and will begin production by 2023 and 2025. The second FLNG, under construction, will be 380 meters long and 60 meters wide and will be anchored at a water depth of about 40 meters. It will be able to store more than 180,000 cubic meters of LNG and 45,000 cubic meters of LPGs.

Claudio Descalzi, chief executive officer of Eni, commented: "Today we celebrate the launch of one of Eni's main projects, made possible by the collaboration with the Republic of the Congo and destined to significantly contribute to both Italy and Europe's energy security and industrial competitiveness. This outcome speaks to the importance of long-term collaboration with our African partners at a time when important strategic choices need to be made in regards to future diversification of supply routes and European energy mixes, in the direction of energy accessibility and availability and progressive decarbonization."

Eni has been operating in Congo for more than 50 years and--to date--is the only company active in the development of its gas resources, guaranteeing 70% of national electricity production through the Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC). Spread across 571 square kilometers, the Marine XII license comprises five discovered fields, with a combined 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) of proved and probable reserves. The two producing fields--Nene and Litchendjili--which were brought on stream in 2015, produce 28,000 barrels of oil, primarily light and low-sulfur, and gas condensate per day, alongside 1.7 million cubic meters per day of commercial gas.

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