Eni SPA has signed an agreement with Perenco Energies International Ltd to divest several oil permits from the Italian company in the Republic of Congo for $300 million.
The assets “are not core to the company’s strategy in the country,” Eni said in a press release this week without identifying the assets.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
The global energy giant’s gas operations in the central African country continue.
“Eni has been present in the Congo for more than 50 years. The country is at the core of Eni’s strategy regarding security of supply and energy transition initiatives,” said government-controlled Eni. “So far, Eni is the only company committed to developing the country’s vast gas resources, in particular through the Congo LNG project, which will exploit the enormous gas resources of Marine XII, meeting the energy generation needs of the country while fueling LNG exports, supplying new volumes of gas to international markets focused on Europe.”
In April, Eni launched the construction of Congo LNG at a stone-laying ceremony attended by President Denis Sassou Nguesso. Congo-Brazzaville’s first natural gas liquefaction plant is expected to have an annual production capacity of 158.92 billion cubic feet (4.5 billion cubic meters).
The project consists of two floating LNG facilities in the Litchendjili and Nene fields, both producing. The first plant will start production this year with a capacity of 0.6 million metric tons per annum (Mtpa). The second reaches 2025 with a maximum production of 2.4 Mtpa, according to Eni.
Last year it announced the acquisition of Export LNG Ltd, owner of the LNG Tango floating plant. The facility, built in 2017, can treat up to about 105.94 million cubic feet (three million cubic meters) per day and produce up to about 35.31 million cubic feet (one billion cubic meters) annually. “The facility will be used by Eni in the Republic of Congo, as part of the activities of the natural gas development project in the Marine XII block, in line with Eni’s strategy to leverage the capital resources of gas,” Eni said on August 5, 2022.
It made its first discovery at Marine XII in 2008 with the Litchendjili gas field, followed by Minsala and Nene.
Congo-Brazzaville Energy Transition
The gas projects follow a pact between Eni and Congo-Brazzaville to increase gas production and export, in which they also agreed to carry out projects that support the country’s transition to clean energy.
“The Republic of Congo and Eni have also agreed to define initiatives to promote decarbonisation and the sustainable energy transition in the country, in particular in the areas of renewable energy, the development of an agricultural supply chain to produce raw materials for biorefining without competing with food. chain, the conservation and sustainable management of forests, the adoption of clean cooking systems, the capture, use and storage of CO2,” Eni said on April 21, 2022 announcing the gas deal.
In this week’s announcement, he said: “Eni is strongly committed to promoting the energy transition in the country: among the main initiatives, the Oyo Center of Excellence for Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency is delivered to the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technological Innovation of the Republic of Congo, which will manage it together with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization)”.
In 2021, Eni signed a pact with Congo-Brazzaville for the industrial-scale production of castor oil to supply Eni’s biorefinery system. “The industrial development phase is expected to see crops on 150,000 hectares with an estimated 90,000 beneficiaries by 2030,” he said on October 4, 2021.
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