Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, June 7 - Japan's Mitsui & Co. and Marubeni Corp. will join Marathon Oil Corp. to produce LNG in Equatorial Guinea.
The project involves construction of a $1.4 billion LNG liquefaction plant on the northwest side of Bioko Island at Punta Europa (OGJ Online, June 23, 2004).
Bechtel Corp. has begun construction of the plant, which is scheduled to begin deliveries of 3.4 million tonnes/year of LNG in late 2007 to a BG Group PLC subsidiary. Deliveries will be made over a period of 17 years, primarily to BG's Lake Charles, La., LNG import terminal.
Natural gas will come from Alba field, currently under development by Marathon, Noble Energy Inc. subsidiary Samedan of North Africa Inc., and the state-run oil company of Equatorial Guinea, GEPetrol.
Under agreements just signed, Marathon will retain 60% of Equatorial Guinea LNG Holdings Ltd. (EGLNG), the company it established to manage the project with GEPetrol, which will retain 25%. Mitsui and Marubeni will acquire stakes of 8.5% and 6.5% respectively by investing a combined total of some 10 billion yen.
The undertaking marks the first time Japanese general traders have participated in an LNG project targeting sales to markets other than Japan or other Asian countries.
