Congo LNG Project

The Congo LNG Project in the Republic of the Congo is the first natural gas liquefaction (LNG) project in the country.

The project was sanctioned in December 2022 and was officially launched in April 2023. It marked the first shipment of LNG in February 2024.

Congo LNG is expected to reach its full production capacity from 2025.

Once fully operational, it will have a production capacity of 3 million tonnes per year (MTPA) (approximately 4.5 billion cubic metres per year).

The project is owned and operated by Eni Congo, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eni. It will exploit the huge gas resources of Marine XII to meet Congo’s power generation needs and export LNG to international markets focusing on Europe.

Being one of Eni’s core supply diversification initiatives, the LNG project will transform Congo into a natural gas exporter.

Congo LNG Location

The Congo LNG Project is located in the Republic of the Congo.

The Marine XII permit, which will serve as the resource base, is situated 20km from the Congolese coast.

Overall, it encompasses an area of 571km². Water depth in the region ranges from 20m to 90m.

Congo LNG Project Details

Made through an accelerated development schedule and a zero-flaring approach, the Congo LNG Project will include the installation of two Floating Natural Gas Liquefaction plants (FLNG) at the Lichendjili and Nenè fields, seven new wellhead platforms, and one new separating and boosting HUB, Congo FLNG Ship, a liquefaction facility with 3MTPA processing capacity, and an onshore LNG pre-treatment facility (OPT).

The OPT facility, with approximately 80 million cubic feet of gas per day, will be built near to the Litchendjili gas plant which supplies gas to the adjacent Centrale Electrique du Congo (CEC) Pinte-Noire Power Plant.

OPT will link to FLNG thereby, supporting local energy market and LNG global demands.

Both fields are already in production and the FLNG is yet to be developed.

The first FLNG plant is currently under conversion and has a capacity of 0.6 million tonnes per year of LNG.

It will commence commercial production in 2023.

The second FLNG plant is also currently under construction and has a capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per year of LNG. The second plant will become operative in 2025.

With the expansion of the project, the Marine XII Joint Venture can increase its total production capacity to 3MTPA from 1.9MTPA of LNG.

The project will have two stages.

The first stage is the nearshore development which includes the positioning of the Tango FLNG (built in 2017) with a capacity of 0.6MTPA or 1 billion standard cubic metres per year of LNG, the gas treatment plant, installation of an additional platform, and drilling of 12 wells.

The second stage is the offshore development which includes the positioning of the second FLNG plant, installation of eight additional platforms, and the drilling of 29 wells.

The project will also include the installation of both a separation and a compression platform, modification and building of the platforms which will house 41 development wells, laying of 10 sealines, WISON liquefaction plant with 2.4MTPA capacity, the accessory structures and activities required to complete the project.

The Congo FLNG is a 380m long and 60m wide ship and will be anchored at a depth of around 40m in the Nene Marine Field Area and ~50km offshore Pointe Noire.

The FLNG will be able to store more than 180,000 cubic metres of LNG and 45,000 cubic metres of LPG.

The produced gas from the wells will be liquefied using the two floating units.

Congo LNG Project Contractors

WISON (Nantong) Heavy Industry was awarded a major Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Installation, and Commissioning (EPCIC) for the delivery of FLNG facility.

EXPRO Group Holdings signed a long-term Production Solutions contract of ten years with Eni Congo for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) pre-treatment facility in Congo.

As per the contract, EXPRO will lease, operate, and maintain the pre-treatment plant.

New Fortress Energy (NFE) entered into an agreement with Eni for the deployment of NFE’s Fast LNG liquefaction technology for a period of 20 years.

The floating units, owned by Floaters, will liquefy the gas produced from the wells.