Government yesterday signed an agreement with a consortium to install and exploit a plant in the South Region.

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Government and the National Hydrocarbons Corporation/Perenco Cameroon/Golar Cameroon/Golar Hilli consortium have agreed to install and exploit a floating natural gas liquefaction plant off the coast of Kribi in the South Region. The Executive General Manager of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (NHC), Adolphe Moudiki, the General Manager of Perenco Cameroon (PERENCO), Benoît de la Fouchardiere and the Chief Executive Officer of Golar Group (GOLAR), Gary Smith, signed the agreement on September 30, 2015, at a ceremony in Yaounde. It was chaired by the Minister of Water Resources and Energy, Basile Atangana Kouna.

Understanding The Project

The installation and exploitation of a floating natural gas liquefaction plant off the coast of Kribi is to export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and to introduce natural gas or Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) into the Cameroonian market. The installation is expected to last two years while its exploitation is expected to take eight years. NHC and PERENCO will develop gas fields; upgrade the treatment capacity of the Bipaga gas site to the tune of 802 million US dollars (about FCFA 470.9 billion) out of which 150 million US Dollars (about FCFA 88.1 billion) will go for investments with emphasis on extraction installations for LPG. By the agreement, Golar Hilli will construct and install a floating liquefaction plant off the coast of Kribi by mid 2017 to the tune of 1.3 billion US Dollars (about FCFA 764 billion). The construction of the plant is the first of its kind in Africa, and shall involve the conversion of Golar Hill’s Methane tanker into liquefaction facility. The process of converting the methane tanker is presently ongoing in the Keppel shipyards in Singapore. The vessel, it was revealed, shall have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of LNG and the first production for export will come on stream in mid 2017. The project will also see the production of 30,000 tonnes per year of LPG (domestic or kitchen gas) on Bipaga gas site, as well as 5,000 barrels per day of very light oil (condensate).

Project Spin-offs

The construction and exploitation of the floating natural gas liquefaction plant offshore Kribi is expected to generate revenue for the public treasury through the sale of hydrocabrons. Taxes and duties will equally be paid by the companies involved pursuant to the provisions of the agreement. The project is also expected to open up business opportunities for Cameroonian enterprises, with contracts worth FCFA 75 billion up for grabs. While increasing the supply of LPG, which is currently in short supply, the project will create over 1,000 jobs during the construction phase of upstream gas infrastructure and 100 direct jobs during the exploitation phase. The project will also see the mobilisation of investments estimated at FCFA 400 billion for the construction and putting in place of natural gas production and processing facilities.

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