Page 15 - GLNG Week 45

GLNG AFRICA GLNG

Cameroon unveils plan for

new refinery near Kribi

PROJECTS & THE government of Cameroon intends to build hoped to establish a public-private partner-
COMPANIES a new refinery to compensate for the loss of the ship (PPP) for the project but did not name any
country’s only oil-processing plant, which has potential partners.
been out of service for more than a year. The new facility will help make up for the
In its National Development Strategy 2020- suspension of operations at Cameroon’s only
2030 document, the government indicated that it existing refinery – the Sonara plant, located in
had already drawn up plans for the construction the port of Limbé in the Sud-Ouest region. The
of a refinery with a throughput capacity of 5mn facility has been idle since May 31, 2019, when it
tonnes per year (tpy), equivalent to 100,000 bar- sustained massive damage in a fire.
Kribi is in the vicinity rels per day (bpd). The facility will be built near The Sonara refinery benefited from its loca-
of a natural gas Kribi, a deepwater port in the Sud region, it said. tion in Limbé, which is the main hub of the coun-
production platform and The document explained that the new refin- try’s oil industry. Cameroonian officials hope
a converted LNG tanker ery would be capable of serving domestic and that the new plant will benefit similarly from its
– the Hilli Episeyo – regional markets. The plant will sell fuel to proximity to facilities built for an LNG project.
that is now serving as members of the Economic and Monetary Com- Kribi is in the vicinity of a natural gas production
an FLNG vessel. munity of Central Africa (CEMAC), a regional platform and a converted LNG tanker – the Hilli
grouping that includes Central African Republic, Episeyo, owned by Bermuda-registered Golar
Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and LNG – that is now serving as a floating LNG
Gabon, as well as Cameroon, it said. (FLNG) vessel. The ship may eventually be able
Cameroon’s government has not said how to turn out up to 1.2mn tpy of LNG. It is already
much the oil-processing plant might cost to being used to process limited amounts of natural
build. It said in the strategy document that it gas and gas condensate.™

Eni: Topsides of FLNG vessel for

Coral South project completed

PROJECTS & ITALY’S Eni said last week that the topsides of in at around 140,000 tonnes.
COMPANIES the floating LNG (FLNG) vessel that will be used When finished, the vessel will be capable of
for the Coral South LNG project in Mozambique turning out 3.4mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG.
had been completed. It will be towed from South Korea across the
In a statement, Eni reported that the last of 13 Indian Ocean to the Mozambique Channel, off
topside modules had been installed on the FLNG the coast of Cabo Delgado Province. It will be
at a shipyard owned by Samsung Heavy Indus- installed about 50 km from shore at Area 4, the
tries (SHI) in Geoje, South Korea. The shipyard licence area within the Rovuma Basin that will
lifted the modules, which weigh 70,000 tonnes provide gas for the Coral South LNG project.
altogether, onto the vessel one at a time, it said. This will make it the first floating gas liquefaction
Now that the vessel’s topsides are finished, plant ever to work in an ultra-deepwater zone.
“construction is continuing with integration Eni was the first international oil company
and commissioning activities,” Eni said. It also (IOC) to sign on to a major LNG scheme in
stressed that work on the FLNG was proceeding Mozambique. In 2017, it made an FID in favour
on schedule. of going forward with the $10bn Coral South
“This lifting, which marks the end of the LNG project. It has said it will drill six develop-
onshore-modules fabrication campaign con- ment wells in 2,000-metre-deep water to provide
figuring the entire gas treatment and liquefac- feedstock for the FLNG.
tion plant, is on schedule and in line with the The Italian company’s partners in the pro-
expected sail-away in 2021 and gas production ject are Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV),
start-up in 2022,” it explained. a joint venture owned by Eni, ExxonMobil
SHI began building the hull and topside (US) and China National Petroleum Corp.
modules of the FLNG in September 2019. It (CNPC); Galp (Portugal); KOGAS (South
completed the hull in January 2020. The ship is Korea) and ENH, Mozambique’s national oil
432 metres long and 66 metres wide and weighs company (NOC).™

Week 45 13•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P15