Page 6 - DMEA Week 41 2021

DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA

Malabo’s big dreams

for Mega Gas Hub

Equatorial Guinea could become a major hub for
regional gas trade – if its plans come together.

AFRICA THE government of Equatorial Guinea recently MGH
began talking up its plans for the creation of a Officials in Malabo presented plans for MGH to
Mega Gas Hub (MGH) at Punta Europa, saying the world in 2018 and then followed by striking a
WHAT: that it was ready to lead the way toward the estab- deal on the first phase of the project the following
Equatoguinean lishment of new facilities serving local natural year.
authorities are talking up gas fields, as well as fields controlled by neigh- That deal provided for US-based Noble
the MGH project, which is bouring states. Energy, which is now under the control of Chev-
designed to support gas In late September, for example, Equatogu- ron, to proceed with the Alen gas monetization
production at local fields inean Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons project.
and in neighbouring Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima drew attention to It called for Noble to shift the focus of
countries’ offshore zones. the project. He noted that Malabo had already upstream development work at the Alen field in
initiated the first phase of MGH and said it is now the Douala basin from gas condensate to natural
WHY: looking to generate momentum for the second gas – that is, to shift from flaring off natural gas
Initially, the plan will phase, which is designed to make Punta Europa or re-injecting it to help maintain reservoir pres-
focus on stabilising a regional hub capable of facilitating the produc- sure in condensate deposits to collecting gas in
domestic gas production. tion and export of gas from multiple countries order to sell it.
with offshore fields in the Gulf of Guinea. Chevron then announced in February of
WHAT NEXT: Lima’s statements indicate that Equatorial this year that it had begun work on the Alen
Plans to handle foreign Guinea is aiming high and working to diversify project. At the time, it said in a press release
gas will face steep and grow its economy by prioritising regional that it expected the scheme to help “[maximise]
hurdles. trade and making preparations for the time development of current and future regional gas
when its own crude oil and natural gas resources resources” in Equatorial Guinea.
run out. And that day certainly is coming; the At the time, the US super-major’s optimism
country’s oil production peaked in 2004, while seemed warranted. After all, first-phase plans for
gas yields began sinking about three years ago MGH also called for stepping up development
and are likely to continue trending downward. work at other Equatoguinean offshore gas fields
But ambition isn’t everything. Equatorial in order to help sustain production rates and
Guinea’s MGH plan has two phases, and it keep the EG LNG gas liquefaction plant and the
remains to be seen whether the first phase will gas-based petrochemical plants in Punta Europa
succeed or not. running at capacity.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 14•October•2021