Congo offers Lukoil role in Marine VI gas project
VIENNA. July 9 (Interfax) - Congo is offering Lukoil a role in another gas project, Marine VI, Congolese Minister of Hydrocarbons Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua told Interfax.
"We first want to complete the second phase of Marine XII, in December. But we are also discussing this [Marine VI]. And I hope we will finalize everything," he said.
"In Africa, they say that when you sit down to eat, you don't eat everything at once. You eat it piece by piece," he said.
Lukoil is already participating in the development of the Marine XII license area in Congo, which is located on the country's continental shelf. The Marine XII license area in Congo, which is located on the country's continental shelf. The 571 square km Marine XII licensed block is located 20 km off the coast of the Republic of Congo and has water depth ranging from 20 to 90 meters. Five fields have been discovered within the block, with combined proven and probable (2P) reserves estimated at 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to an international, independent audit. The Nene and Litchendjili fields went into operation in 2015. Eni is the operator of the project, with a stake of 65%, and the other 10% is owned by state company Societe Nationale des Petroles du Congo. Lukoil bought a 25% stake in Marine XII from New Age M12 Holdings Limited in 2019 for $800 million.
Congo joined the ranks of LNG exporters in February last year with gas produced at Marine XII on the Tango floating LNG plant. Under the project, Congo LNG plans to increase the reserves of Marine XII and gradually expand gas liquefaction capacity to a plateau of about 4.5 bcm per year.
Last November, Eni launched the hull Congo's second FLNG plant, Nguya, at the Chinese Wison shipyards. The new FLNG will have a liquefaction capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per year and will join the existing Tango, capacity of 0.6 million tonnes per year, bringing the total LNG capacity of the Congo LNG project to 3 million tonnes per year by the end of 2025.
