Italian government ministers have signed an accord with the Republic of Congo in West Africa to increase natural gas production and exports under a plan also involving future LNG shipments.
Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi di Maio, and the European Union member’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, signed the letter of intent with Congolese counterparts, including Congo's Minister of Hydrocarbons Bruno Jean Richard Itoua.
Also present was the Chief Executive of Italian energy company Eni, Claudio Descalzi, and after the signing the parties met in the capital Brazzaville with the President of the Republic of Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso.
“The agreement provides for the acceleration and increase of gas production in Congo, primarily through the development of an LNG project with start-up expected in 2023,” said a statement.
The floating LNG joint venture would have capacity of more than 3 million tonnes per annum of LNG once fully operational.
“LNG exports will allow the valorization of the production of natural gas that exceeds Congo’s internal market needs,” explained the statement.
The Republic of Congo and Eni have also agreed to define initiatives to promote decarbonisation, renewable energy and the development of an agricultural supply chain to produce feedstock for bio-refining without competing with the food chain.
“Currently Eni is the only company committed to developing the huge gas resources of the Republic of Congo,” said the Milan-based oil and gas company.
It currently supplies natural to the Congo Power Plant (CEC), which guarantees 70 percent of the country's electricity generation and Eni has been present in Congo for over 50 years.
At the start of March 2022, New Fortress Energy Inc., the New York-based supplier of LNG for power, signed an accord with a Eni’s Congo subsidiary for the deployment of LNG production equipment off the coast of the African nation for a period of 20 years.
NFE said it would set up its “Fast LNG” facility to produce LNG from the associated gas fields off the Congo.
The deal in the form of a preliminary Heads of Agreement provides a framework for negotiating a long-term tolling agreement between NFE and Eni.
NFE said that this would be for the full capacity of the facility and for the purchase by NFE of around 1.2 million gallons of LNG per day pursuant to a 20-year free-on-board (FOB) sales and purchase agreement.
The Republic of Congo’s associated gas comes from its oil production.
Wes Edens, Chairman and CEO of NFE, described the NFE-Eni deal at the time as a “landmark partnership” with the Italian company seen by Edens as the “perfect partner” for the “Fast LNG” unit
The NFE “Fast LNG” design pairs modular, midsize liquefaction technology with jack-up rigs or similar floating infrastructure to enable a much lower cost and faster deployment schedule than floating liquefaction vessels.
Under the NFE plan, a permanently moored floating storage unit (FSU) would serve as an LNG storage facility alongside the floating liquefaction infrastructure, which can be deployed anywhere where there is abundant and stranded natural gas.
