LNG

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

Belgian shipping company Exmar, which chartered a regasification barge to the Netherlands and sold a floating LNG production vessel to Italy’s Eni for deployment offshore  the Republic of Congo, is completing its take-over by Saverex NV, the holding company of the family of Exmar Executive Chairman Nicolas Saverys and additionally reported solid third-quarter earnings.

“The Congo LNG project is entering a new phase with ENI’s ‘Tango FLNG’ and Exmar’s ‘Excalibur’ heading for Congo for installation and start-up by December 2023,” Exmar stated.

The Antwerp, Belgium-based shipping and infrastructure company reported third-quarter revenues of $345.4 million, up from $95.6M in the same three months of 2022.

Exmar said adjusted gross earnings amounted to $140.5M compared with $52.6M in the prior-year quarter.

Eemshaven LNG

“The increase in revenue in the first nine months of 2023 versus 2022 reflects the full impact of the employment of the FSRU ‘Eemshaven LNG’ and the LNG carrier ‘Excalibur’ as well as the engineering, procurement and conversion works for the Congo LNG project with Eni,” Exmar explained.

The company pointed out that September 2022 gross earnings (EBITDA) were positively impacted by a $315.6M gain on the sale of “Tango FLNG” to Eni.

Exmar noted that on October 21 Eni, Dry Docks World Dubai and Exmar celebrated the “sail away” of the “Tango FLNG” and Excalibur floating storage unit (FSU) vessels from Dubai to Congo for use in Eni’s LNG project.

“Exmar with its expertise in LNG infrastructure and serving as the engineering, procurement and conversion contractor for this project, has designed the mooring system (Exmar Offshore Company) and performed the refurbishments on both vessels at Dry Docks World yard in Dubai,” the company explained.

The LNG carrier “Excalibur” is on hire to Eni Congo for use as the FSU in the Congo LNG project.

The FSRU “Eemshaven LNG” is on charter to a unit of Dutch utility Gasunie called the EemsEnergyTerminal BV.

“The FSRU has been running steadily at lower capacity during summer time and is now scaling up for the winter season,” Exmar stated.

Shipping earnings

Exmar added that shipping division revenues rose to $110.6M versus $108.7M in the same quarter last year.

In its shipping division, Exmar retains an extensive fleet including three Very Large Gas Carriers, 17 mid-sized liquefied petroleum gas carriers, two newbuilds and 10 pressurised carriers.

Exmar said that Time Charter Equivalent Rates for Midsized vessels rose to $25,656 per day from $23,916 per day.

The VLGC TCE rates increased to $42,229 per from $39,091 a day and rates for pressurised tankers of 5,000 cubic metres capacity rose to $9,097 per day from $8,530 per day.

The company also made an investment in the drilling sector with Vantage Drilling International, buying a stake of 11.5 percent.

“Vantage is a player in offshore oil and natural gas well drilling services, with a fleet comprising of two ultra-deep-water drill ships and two premium jack-up rigs, listed on the US OTC market under VTDRF,” Exmar said.

“This strategic investment is driven by promising value due to continued under-investment in the offshore drilling market. After over two decades, Exmar re-enters the drilling sector, further expanding its role in the energy value chain,” the company added.

On the takeover bid, Exmar said that the reopening of the acceptance period of the voluntary public takeover bid launched by Saverex for all shares and share option in Exmar ended on Friday, September 15. 

Due to this process, Saverex holds a total of more than 47.81 million shares in Exmar, representing 80.36 percent of the outstanding shares.

The shares in Exmar held by Nicolas Saverys (7,924 shares) and by Exmar (2.02M shares) as well as by Saverex and persons affiliated amount to over 49.83M shares, representing 83.76 percent of Exmar.