LNG

Italian oil and gas major Eni said it closed the sale to Anglo-French energy company Perenco of Eni’s participation interest in several upstream permits in the Republic of the Congo in West Africa.

Italian energy company Eni and Swiss gas supply company Open Energy Platform AG signed an agreement to guarantee the flow of natural gas to Switzerland and Italy in the event of interruptions or significant gas flow reductions from Germany.

Nov 6 (LNGJ) - UK major BP said production had successfully started from the Seagull oil and natural gas field in the UK North Sea, boosting energy security and underpinning continued production from an offshore facility that’s been operating for 25 years while supplying more oil to Scotland and natural gas to England.

   The Seagull field has been developed by Neptune Energy, now being acquired by Italy’s Eni, as a subsea tieback to the BP-operated central processing facility of the Eastern Trough Area Project in the central North Sea, around 140 miles (225km) east of Aberdeen. “Oil from Seagull is exported through the Forties Pipeline System to Grangemouth in central Scotland and natural gas to Teesside via the Central Area Transmission System,” said BP. The new field is expected to produce around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent gross per day at peak production.

Italian oil and gas major Eni and a key shareholder in global liquefied natural gas production projects has made a “significant’ natural gas discovery in East Kalimantan in Indonesia with the volumes likely headed for the onshore Bontang liquefaction and export plant.

Italian oil and gas company Eni has followed up its agreed $4.9 billion acquisition of UK-listed Neptune Energy by buying natural gas assets from Chevron Corp. in Indonesia with LNG production potential.

Eni has agreed to buy Chevron’s interests in the Kutei Basin offshore East Kalimantan in Indonesia for an undisclosed sum.

When the deal is completed Eni will take over the Chevron operatorships in the production sharing contracts in the Indonesian Blocks named the Ganal PSC (Chevron 62 percent), the Rapak PSC (Chevron 62 percent) and the Makassar Straits PSC (Chevron 72 percent).

Eni already has a 20 percent interest as non-operator in the Ganal and Rapak Blocks.

The acquired Neptune assets include PSCs operated with Eni producing feed gas for LNG exports from the Bontang LNG plant under long-term contracts, as well as gas for the Indonesian domestic market.

Expansion

Neptune’s main stakes are in the Jangkrik and Merakes gas fields and Eni is now further strengthening its operatorships in the region where there was still “significant exploration potential” in the Kutei Basin.

The Milan-based company explained that the acquisition of the Chevron assets was an important step, particularly for the opportunity to fast-track the development of the Gendalo and Gandang gas project, a part of the Indonesia Deepwater Development (IDD) in the Ganal PSC, close to the Jangkrik Floating Production unit, with estimated natural gas reserves of around 2 trillion cubic feet.

“This is in addition to the producing Bangka gas field, the Gehem and Ranggas discoveries and the significant exploration potential also included in the northern part of the asset, which therefore represent a further relevant consolidation for Eni operations in the East Kalimantan area,” Eni added.

“The acquisition of Chevron's assets in Indonesia will allow Eni to fast-track the development of the IDD project, leveraging its strong presence in East Kalimantan as well as the synergies with Eni-operated Jangkrik infrastructures, the existing Bontang LNG facility and the domestic gas market,” Eni stated.

Eni said the acquisitions were in line with the company’s aim of increasing its share of natural gas production to 60 percent of its overall hydrocarbon total by 2030.

Eni’s first exploration agreement in Indonesia dates back to 1968 and its current net production amounts to about 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Global gas

The company’s agreed acquisition of Neptune includes assets far beyond Indonesia and includes key global LNG stakes and gas field assets in Algeria, Norway, the UK, the Netherlands and Australia.

Under the terms of the Neptune takeover Eni agreed to purchase Neptune for $2.6Bln and Eni’s Norwegian-listed subsidiary Vår Energi has agreed to pay $2.3Bln to acquire Neptune’s operations in Norway.

Eni also explained that many of Neptune's existing natural gas contracts would expire in the next 12 months, giving the company the opportunity to integrate these within its own pipeline gas and LNG portfolio.

Neptune was owned by equity finds with China Investment Corp. holding a 49 percent stake, the US Carlyle group owning 30.6 percent and the Luxembourg-based French asset management firm CVC Partners holding 20.4 percent. 

The Mozambican Government is considering a project led by Italian energy company Eni for the deployment of a second floating liquefied natural gas plant called the Coral North project to match the Coral South plant that went on stream in November 2022.

Agência de Informação de Moçambique (AIM), the official Mozambique news agency, carried the report in its latest bulletin.

The project will be developed by a consortium headed by Italian oil and gas major Eni and was in the “pre-viability environmental study” stage for deployment in the Rovuma Basin offshore Mozambique.

The Eni study was cited by AIM as saying that the second FLNG plant would be “the most efficient way to maximise the recovery and profitability of the gas reserves” of the Coral natural gas field.

FLNG costs

“The investment envisaged in the second platform is US$7 billion and is still subject to approval by the Mozambican government,” said the official news agency.

“Under the current schedule, the new platform would begin to produce LNG in the second half of 2027,” it said.

“That means that the platform will be in production before the onshore LNG plant planned for the Afungi Peninsula in Palma district by French oil and gas company TotalEnergies,” added the report.

“The resumption of work by TotalEnergies will depend on whether the French company is satisfied with the recent improvements in the security situation,” said AIM.

The report said that the Mozambique Government expects the Coral North FLNG plant to be anchored about 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from the existing Coral South facility which has been liquefying natural gas since October 2022.

“The platform has the capacity to produce 3.37 million tonnes of LNG a year and the Coral North platform would double that figure,” it said.

The first LNG cargo was lifted on the 13th of November 2022 from the “Coral Sul FLNG” vessel.

Upstream operator

Eni is the upstream operator of the Area 4 licence resources containing the Coral gas reservoir.

The “Coral-Sul FLNG” vessel was constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje in South Korea and is the first floating LNG facility ever deployed in the deep waters of East Africa.

The other partners of Eni in the first FLNG project were US major ExxonMobil Corp., China National Petroleum Corp., Galp Energia of Portugal, Korea Gas Corp. and Mozambique’s Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), the state energy company.

BP of the UK has a long-term agreement spanning over 20 years to purchase 100 percent of LNG output from the Coral South FLNG venture.

The new Coral North project was first mentioned by the Coral gas field shareholders to Mozambique President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi when the President visited the “Coral-Sul FLNG” vessel for a ceremony on November 24, 2022.

“They discussed with the President the possibility of replicating the success of the Coral South project with further FLNG developments as well as other onshore projects,” said Eni at the time.

June 8 (LNGJ) - Eni, the main international natural gas producer in former LNG-exporting nation Libya, has signed an accord to identify opportunities to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions at Libyan oil and gas facilities. Eni said the signing took place as part of the visit to Italy of the Prime Minister of the Government of Libyan National Unity Abulhamid Dabaiba.

   Eni has an 80 percent share of national gas production of 1.6 billon standard cubic feet per day. Production activities are operated through the joint venture company Mellitah Oil and Gas BV, a 50-50 joint venture between Eni and the National Oil Company of Libya.

Saipem, the Italian offshore energy and LNG feed-gas specialist, was awarded a new drilling contract worth €400 million ($424M) in the Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa where the Baleine Phase 1 project for offshore oil and associated gas is currently moving forward to maintain the country's status as an African energy hub.

Mozambique President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi has visited and inaugurated the “Coral-Sul FLNG” installation located in the ultra-deep waters of the Rovuma Basin that has turned his southeast African nation into an LNG exporter.

The inauguration ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Carlos Zacarias and by other representatives of Mozambique’s government.

They were accompanied by a delegation from the resources operator, the Italian energy company Eni and led by Guido Brusco, Chief Operating Officer of Natural Resources at the Milan-based company.

The event took place 10 days after the first LNG cargo was lifted on 13 November from the “Coral Sul FLNG” vessel.

“Coral Sul is a landmark project for the gas industry and is projecting Mozambique onto the global LNG stage, paving the way to a transformational change of the country through the development of gas resources,” said a statement.

Area 4 licence

Eni, as upstream operator of the Area 4 licence resources in the Coral South gas reservoir, is ramping up the project to its full liquefaction capacity of 3.4 million tonnes per annum.

The “Coral-Sul FLNG” vessel was constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje in South Korea and is the first floating LNG facility ever deployed in the deep waters of East Africa.

The other partners of Eni in the FLNG project are US major ExxonMobil Corp., Chinese major China National Petroleum Corp., Galp Energia of Portugal, Korea Gas Corp. and Mozambique’s Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), the state energy company.


The 174,000 cubic metres capacity LNG carrier “British Sponsor”, operated by BP, lifted the first cargo from the liquefaction hull.

BP has a long-term agreement spanning over 20 years to purchase 100 percent of LNG output from the project to add to its global supply portfolio.

President Nyusi and the Eni delegation in addition to visiting the “Coral Sul FLNG” hull also held talks on other possible LNG developments in Mozambique.

“They discussed the possibility of replicating the success of the Coral South project with further FLNG developments as well as other onshore projects,” said Eni.

“They also discussed the agri-feedstock project under an agreement between Eni and the Government of Mozambique,” it added.

“The project aims to produce oil from seeds, wastes and residues that do not compete with food crops and agriculture lands, to be used in biofuel production,” explained Eni.

Saipem, the Italian subsea and drilling company, has been awarded contracts in the LNG-producing nation of Angola for the Azule Energy joint venture and for wells in the Côte d'Ivoire where the West African nation is aiming to boost oil and gas production.