Italian energy firm Eni is moving forward with its plans to launch the first floating LNG production unit in Congo by the end of this year.
The President of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and Eni’s CEO, Claudio Descalzi, on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of Congo LNG, the country’s first natural gas liquefaction project and one of Eni’s core supply diversification initiatives, according to a statement by Eni.
Eni expects the project to reach an overall LNG production capacity of 3 million tons per year, or about 4.5 billion cubic meters/year, from 2025.
Congo LNG will exploit the huge gas resources of Marine XII, fulfilling the country’s power generation needs while also fueling LNG exports, supplying new volumes of gas to international markets focusing on Europe, Eni said.
“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,” Descalzi said.
“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,” he said.
First FLNG being prepared for deployment
The project, made though an accelerated development schedule and a zero-flaring approach, will see the installation of two FLNGs at the Nenè and Litchendjili fields – already in production – and at the fields yet to be developed, according to Eni.
The first FLNG unit, currently under conversion and with a capacity of 0.6 million tonnes per year (mtpa), will begin production in 2023, Eni confirmed in the statement.
In August last year, Eni signed a deal to buy Exmar’s Tango FLNG.
The floating LNG producer, delivered in 2017 by Wison, has a storage capacity of 16,100 cbm.
The second FLNG plant, already under construction at Wison, will become operative in 2025 with a capacity of 2.4 mtpa, Eni said.
China’s Wison (Nantong) Heavy Industry recently held a steel-cutting ceremony for the hull of the second FLNG.
Wison is building a 380 meters long FLNG with 60 meters in breadth and 35 meters in draft, with the topside modules weighing about 40,000 tons.
It will be able to store over 180,000 cubic meters of LNG.