The President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou N’Guesso, and Eni's CEO, Claudio Descalzi, have attended the ceremony marking the first cargo of LNG from the Nguya FLNG floating facility, signalling the start-up of gas exports from Phase 2 of the Congo LNG project. This represents a further step toward Eni’s target of expanding its LNG portfolio to 20 million typ by 2030, leveraging the flexibility, competitiveness and geographical diversification of its equity projects, and is a key milestone in building a leading position in the global LNG market.
With Phase 2, the Congo LNG project reaches a total liquefaction capacity of 3 million tpy of LNG, equivalent to 4.5 billion m3/y of gas, leveraging gas resources from the Nené and Litchendjili fields in the offshore Marine XII license.
Descalzi commented: “We reach a very important milestone thanks to the relationship of trust built with the country’s institutions and local communities. We have been the only company to invest in gas to develop the domestic market and to reduce routine flaring. This decision, taken more than 20 years ago, led us to discover enough volumes to enable export as well. Phase II of the Congo LNG project was delivered in record time compared with industry averages, increasing gas availability on international markets and contributing to Italian and European energy security, while at the same time generating concrete benefits for the local economy.”
Congo LNG highlights Eni's ability to transform gas resources into strategic value for the country and for international markets, through a cost-competitive project with strong environmental performance. Phase 1 of Congo LNG, launched with the Tango FLNG liquefaction unit, reached start-up in December 2023, just over one year after the project definition. Phase 2 start-up, in turn, comes only 35 months after construction of the Nguya FLNG unit began, setting a new international industry benchmark in terms of execution speed and efficiency.