Marine XII Project With Lukoil's Participation In Congo To Begin LNG Production December

The first production of liquefied natural gas on a floating rig within the Marine XII project in the Republic of the Congo, in which Lukoil participates, will begin in December 2023, the liquefaction capacity will be 600,000 tonnes per year with the possibility of increasing to 3 million tonnes per year by 2025, Lukoil's vice president for America, Africa and the middle East, Ivan Romanovsky, told reporters.

"The first production of liquefied gas will begin at the end of this year, in December. The liquefaction capacity will be 600,000 tonnes per year," he said.

Romanovsky added that in the future it was planned to expand the LNG production capacity by another 2.4 million tonnes with the commissioning of a second floating rig.

"Thus, at the end of 2025, the total liquefaction capacity will be 3 million tonnes per year," the company's vice president added.

Competence in gas liquefaction is a new milestone in the history of Lukoil and provides opportunities for the implementation of such projects both in Congo and in a number of other countries where the company is present, he said.

At the same time, Lukoil's vice-president stressed that Eni would be responsible for deliveries of gas from the Marine XII project.

"And sales markets will depend on the situation that will develop at the moment when we have volumes of liquefied gas," Romanovsky noted.

Oil production at the Marine XII project can be increased to 1.7 million tonnes from 1 million tonnes per year, gas production to 5.5 billion cubic meters from the current 1.5 billion cubic meters per year, Romanovsky said.

He added that Lukoil had already invested $955 million in Marine XII, which includes the acquisition of a stake in the project.

"And we plan to invest another $1 billion. The total investment for Marine XII will be $1.96 billion," the vice president said.

Lukoil acquired a 25% stake in the Marine XII oil and gas project from the British company New Age M12 Holdings Limited in 2019. The project also involves Italy's Eni (the project's operator, 65%) and local State Oil Company of the Republic of the Congo (10%).