Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO), through affiliate Marathon EG Holding Ltd., signed a heads of agreement (HOA) with the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and Noble Energy EG Ltd., a Chevron company, to progress the next phases of Equatorial Guinea regional gas 'mega hub' development, Marathon said in a release Mar. 30.
Phase 1 of the gas hub included tieback of Alen natural gas and condensate field in the Douala basin offshore Equatorial Guinea to Punta Europa, Bioko Island, which delivered first gas in February 2021 (OGJ Online, Mar. 1, 2021). Alen gas is processed under the combination of a tolling and profit-sharing arrangement through Alba Plant LLC's onshore liquified petroleum gas (LPG) plant (MRO 52% interest) and Equatorial Guinea LNG-Holdings Ltd.'s 3.7 million tonnes/year LNG plant (EGLNG, MRO 56% interest).
The HOA aligns all parties on necessary commercial principles to advance gas hub Phases II and III, the company said.
Phase II involves processing Alba Unit (MRO 64% interest) gas, from Jan. 1, 2024, under new contractual terms following the legacy Henry Hub-linked Alba sales and purchase agreement expiration at end-2023.
Phase III is expected to facilitate gas processing from Aseng field at Punta Europa infrastructure.
A recently established bilateral treaty on cross-border oil and gas development between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon provides additional opportunities to further expand GMH through fast-track monetization of cross-border wet gas fields, Marathon said.