The project been announced by Africa Oil & Power, the continent’s premier platform for energy investment and policy. It involves development of interlinked production, aggregation and processing facilities offshore and onshore, which will be tied in to existing facilities.
The Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons (MMH), in collaboration with oil and gas companies, will lead the project.
Equatorial Guinea Mines and Hydrocarbons Minister Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima said: “This gas megahub project is totally unique in Africa and it requires an unprecedented level of cooperation between government and energy companies.”
As part of the first phase of the project, a new gas supply agreement will be signed between the MMH and Noble Energy, operator of the Aseng and Alen fields in Block I/O.
Under the terms of the deal, gas will be supplied from Alen and Aseng fields to Punta Europa.
The Punta Europa gas complex includes the Malabo power station, AMPCO methanol plant and Equatorial Guinea LNG plant.
Combined with new subsea pipelines linking the Aseng, Alen and Alba fields, the agreement is aimed at replacing some of the gas production lost as the Alba field declines.
Africa Oil & Power, the continent’s premier platform for energy investment and policy, said in a statement: “The agreement, combined with new subsea pipelines linking the Aseng, Alen and Alba fields, will replace some of the gas production lost as the Alba field declines.”
The gas megahub, which will build on the new Punta Europa-Alba-Alen link, will link into other existing and future gas projects and maximize the gas infrastructure of Equatorial Guinea.
Expected to create 2-3,000 direct and indirect jobs, the project would help in reducing reliance on single upstream developments for industrial development.
Africa Oil & Power said: “A key component of this will be local content, ensuring that Equatorial Guinea’s local companies are part of the value chain.
“The gas megahub project will change the dynamic of future upstream gas projects in Equatorial Guinea, with a ready market promoting further exploration for gas, an increasing role for Punta Europa as the primary user and onshore base for new gas projects, and a view to developing discoveries as tie-ins to the megahub, rather than as standalone upstream developments.”
