Angola plans to have its $8bn liquefied
natural gas (LNG) plant running by 2012, adding significantly to the
regional production capacity already located in Equatorial Guinea and
Nigeria.
Angola LNG’s plans were to supply the US gas market, but its sponsors – Chevron (36.4%), BP (13.6%), Eni (13.6%) and Total (13.6%) – have been encouraged by recent noises that the Netherlands hopes to start importing Angola’s LNG to resell in Europe. “The Netherlands is very interested”, Dutch economy minister Maria van der Hoeven said after a recent meeting with Angolan oil minister José Botelho de Vasconcelos.
Located near the town of Soyo, the plant will process natural gas produced from dedicated offshore fields and help to commercialise gas that is otherwise flared from existing oil-producing operations. Output will be 5.2m tonnes a year.
Early construction work, including a loading jetty, was begun in early 2008 by the engineering, procurement and construction contractor Bechtel. Angola LNG has subsequently awarded a consortium that includes Acergy and Spiecapag a $550m contract for the development of the near-shore and onshore segment of the pipeline network required for the transportation of gas, with offshore installation due to begin before the end of 2009.
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