Equatorial Guinea Ups LNG Export Plant Stake
Equatorial Guinea has established the first hub in its planned gas megahub project and state Sonagas is boosting its stake at the EG LNG Plant by a fifth, it said April 1.
The agreement is with the respective Punta Europa plant owners and covers gas in the Alen Unit in Blocks O and I offshore Equatorial Guinea, operated by Noble Energy. The definitive agreements commit for tolling Alen Unit gas through Alba Plant liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) processing plant and EG LNG's liquefied natural gas production facility, both at Punta Europa. Marathon Oil is the majority shareholder in both Alba Plant and EG LNG. This agreement will see Sonagas take its stake from 25% to 30%.
Existing production and processing facilities are already in place at the Alen Platform and in Punta Europa. The Alen offshore platform will undergo minor modifications to export gas while primary condensate will continue to be produced and lifted offshore via the Aseng FPSO.
The Alen Unit joint venture will install and operate a 70-km pipeline to transport gas from the Alen Platform to Punta Europa, where it will be processed and transported for sales on the global market. The pipeline will be capable of transporting about 950mn ft3/day from Q1 2021 when first gas is due.
Modifications are already underway at Alba Plant in order to receive Alen Unit gas but no process modifications are expected at EG LNG in order to process Alen Unit gas, suggesting that this is backfilling the gas supply. Shell is the sole off-taker, following its purchase of BG.
The project will provide an additional source of gas for the Punta Europa facilities and will transform the Alen platform into an offshore hub for Alen Unit gas, other Block O and I discoveries and potentially additional Gulf of Guinea gas fields too. The Alen Gas Offshore Hub will be the first hub in the government's vision of developing Equatorial Guinea as a megahub, comprising of additional offshore gas hubs, all feeding gas into the Punta Europa facilities.
The minister of mines and hydrocarbons Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima said the sale of Alen Unit gas could deliver "around $1.5-2bn in additional state revenues over the life of the project" and local content will play an integral part in the implementation of the project.
The members of the Block O contractor group are Noble Energy, which serves as the technical operator, Glencore and Compañía Nacional de Petroleos de Guinea Ecuatorial ("GEPetrol"). The members of the Block I contractor group are Noble Energy which serves as the technical operator, Glencore, Atlas-Oranto Petroleum, Gunvor and GEPetrol.
The Punta Europa parties include Alba Plant, Alba Unit and EGLNG. The interest holders in Alba Plant include Marathon, Noble Energy subsdiary Samedan of North Africa and Sonagas. The shareholders of EG LNG's holding company include Marathon, Sonagas, Mitsui & Co and Marubeni.