Congo LNG project involving Lukoil to start producing 600,000 tpy in Dec

POINTE-NOIRE (Republic of the Congo). March 20 (Interfax) - A floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant that is part of the Marine XII project in the Republic of the Congo, in which Lukoil is a participant, will begin production in December 2023, the Russian oil company's vice president for the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, Ivan Romanovsky told reporters.

"The first production of liquefied gas will begin at the end of this year, in December. Liquefaction capacity will amount to 600,000 tonnes per year," he said.

There are plans to expand LNG production capacity by another 2.4 million tonnes with the launch of a second floating facility, so "overall liquefaction capacity will total 3 million tonnes per year at the end of 2025," Romanovsky said.

Gas liquefaction competency is a new milestone for Lukoil that will enable the company to implement such projects in the Congo and in a number of other countries where it has a presence, he said.

The shipment of gas from the Marine XII project will be handled by Italy's Eni, and the "markets will depend on the situation that takes shape when we have liquefied gas volumes," Romanovsky said.

Lukoil acquired a 25% stake in the Marine XII oil and gas project from UK-based New Age M12 Holdings Limited in 2019. The project also involves Eni, which is the project operator with a 65% stake, and Republic of the Congo's national oil company SNPC with 10%.