A first shipment produced by Eni’s floating LNG unit off the Republic of Congo is in the process of being loaded onto a visiting LNG carrier.
Eni posted a video showing the 155,000-cbm GasLog Savannah (built 2010) alongside the floating storage unit for the project the 138,000-cbm Excalibur (built 2002).
Kpler data shows the GasLog vessel, which arrived on site this week, as loaded with some volumes.
The LNG is produced on-site by the 16,100-cbm barge-based Tango FLNG (built 2017) and transferred into the FSU for discharge into visiting LNG carriers.
Eni said: “The first LNG cargo is currently being loaded and will sail to Piombino’s regasification terminal, in Italy, in the coming days.”
The upcoming export will add the Republic of Congo as a new name to the list of LNG-producing nations.
Eni said: “With the first cargo, the Republic of the Congo enters the group of LNG exporting countries, opening up opportunities for economic growth while contributing to global energy balance.”
The energy company’s chief executive Claudio Descalzi said: “Eni and the local partners shared workforces, know-how and technologies, ensuring additional revenues to the country while contributing to Europe’s energy security.”
Eni said the project, which is situated within the Marine XII permit off Pointe Noire, will achieve a plateau gas liquefaction capacity of about 4.5 billion cubic metres per annum and will mark zero flaring from operated activities in the country.
“The volumes will be marketed by Eni, strengthening and expanding the company’s LNG portfolio, and supporting efforts towards energy security and transition,” the company said.
Eni, which sanctioned the new project in December 2022, had been targeting a first export from its new FLNG project at the end of 2023 but the timeline slipped slightly.
A cooldown cargo arrived on site in January with a part-cargo loaded in Spain.
The small-scale FLNG unit, which is anchored in 40 metres of water, has a liquefaction capacity of about 1bn cbm per annum and, along with the FSU, has been upgraded to remain on site for at least a decade.
The floater and the FSU together can store more than 180,000 cbm of LNG and 45,000 cbm of LPG.
In a second phase, Eni is adding a larger FLNG unit.
The Italian energy company has ordered a 2.4m tonnes per annum unit from China’s Wison (Nantong) Heavy Industries, which also built Tango FLNG, to upscale its LNG production to 3 mtpa.
