The Republic of the Congo in West Africa has become an LNG exporter under a project developed by Italian major Eni and the first shipment is heading for the Italian floating LNG import terminal at Piombino in Tuscany.
The President of the Republic of the Congo, Denis Sassou-N'Guesso, and the Chairman of Eni Giuseppe Zafarana and Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi celebrated the start-up at an event held the Congolese port of Pointe Noire.
“With the first cargo, the Republic of the Congo enters the group of LNG exporting countries, opening up opportunities for economic growth while contributing to the global energy balance,” said a joint statement.
The loading of the first cargo offshore the Congo makes the nation the third FLNG producer after Cameroon, located further North, and Mozambique in southeast Africa.
FLNG configuration
The “Tango FLNG” facility has a liquefaction capacity of about 1 billion cubic metres per annum and is moored alongside the “Excalibur” floating storage unit (FSU) to use a production and loading configuration called “split mooring” and implemented for the first time in an FLNG project.
Natural gas had been introduced into the system in December 2023, which was a record 12 months after the final investment decision on the project was taken in December 2022.
“The Congo LNG project encompasses the adoption of new technologies and a strong synergy with existing producing assets,” Eni explained.
Following completion of the commissioning phase, the “Tango FLNG” barge succeeded in producing the first cargo on schedule in the first quarter of 2024.
The FLNG hub is located within the Marine XII natural gas field permit area with plateau gas liquefaction capacity of around 4.5 billion cubic metres per annum.
The volumes will be marketed by Eni, strengthening and expanding the company’s LNG portfolio.
Eni is the only international energy company active in the development of the nation’s natural gas resources, supplying pipeline gas from offshore to the Centrale Électrique du Congo, which provides 70 percent of the country's power generation capacity.
Second plant
Eni has said that a second FLNG vessel with a capacity of about 3.5 Bcm of gas was under construction and would be deployed in 2025.
The Congo FLNG project is the third venture operating in Africa after Cameroon FLNG, Mozambique FLNG and with other ventures being developed in several other nations including Nigeria.
Two more FLNG facilities are additionally being developed in joint projects for Senegal and Mauritania in West Africa and involving UK major BP and Dallas, Texas-based Kosmos Energy.
The first Senegal-Mauritania LNG shipment is scheduled to be produced by the end of 2024.
The “Tango FLNG” hull first operated in Argentina and underwent some conversion in Singapore before being sent to Africa.
The previous owner of the “Tango FLNG”, the Belgian shipping company Exmar, sold the production barge in 2022 to Eni as part of a deal valued at around $646 million
