Equatorial Guinea to set up gas processing hub

Dec. 17, 2008
Equatorial Guinea plans to establish a gas gathering company to collect gas in the Gulf of Guinea and direct it to key projects in the nation, according to a senior official from the state owned gas company Sonagas.

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

BARCELONA, Dec. 17 -- Equatorial Guinea plans to establish a gas gathering company to collect gas in the Gulf of Guinea and direct it to key projects in the nation, according to a senior official from the state owned gas company Sonagas.

Serapio Sima Ntutumu, deputy director general at Sonagas, said at the CWC LNG summit in Barcelona that Equatorial Guinea wants to position itself as a gas processing hub in the region gathering gas from Nigeria, Cameroon, and other sources in Equatorial Guinea that could be fed into its LNG expansion, petrochemicals, LPG plants, and methanol systems.

Sonagas will perform a feasibility study to evaluate its gas options, an initiative crucial to eliminate gas flaring. It hopes to collect at least 800 MMcfd from Nigeria and 200 MMcfd from Cameroon, Ntutumu told OGJ.

"If they have even more, all the better. Noble Energy has discovered gas on Block O & I; ExxonMobil has gas activities. We want to work with them."

The new company would effectively become a hub for gas activity, coordinating work in Equatorial Guinea and offering licenses for gas development.

Equatorial Guinea also is working on a master gas plan to find ways of monetizing its resources. The government will announce further details later, Ntutumu said.

The nation's importance in the oil and gas arena was recognized by Gazprom Neft in October after it signed memorandum of understanding with the nation's energy ministry committing to carry out upstream, downstream, and financial studies. The partnership will strengthen the cooperation between Russia and Equatorial Guinea.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].