Tango FLNG and Excalibur FSU Heading to the Republic of Congo

The Tango FLNG floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) plant and the Excalibur floating LNG storage unit (FSU) have headed to the Congo continental shelf after an upgrade by Exmar.
The press service of the Italian Eni reported this.

The dispatch ceremony was attended by the Minister of Hydrocarbons of the Republic of Congo, B. Itua, the Managing Director of SNPC, M. Ominga, and the Chief Operating Officer of Eni for Natural Resources, G. Brusco.

The vessels left the Dry Docks World shipyard in Dubai, UAE on October 21, 2023.
Upon arrival in Congo, Tango FLNG and Excalibur FSU will be moored 3 km offshore.
Eni said that the dispatch of the vessels is in line with the implementation schedule of the Congo LNG project, the 1st phase of which will be launched in December 2023.

Tango FLNG (formerly Caribbean FLNG)

• was built by Exmar in 2017;
• processing capacity – about 3 million m3/day of gas,
• LNG production capacity is about 0.6 million tons/year (about 1 billion m3/year of gas in normal condition);
• in August 2022, Eni bought Export LNG Ltd, which owned Tango FLNG, from Exmar group.

Excalibur FSU

• volume – 138 thousand m3,
• built in 2022
• Exmar has provided the Excalibur FSU to Eni on a long-term charter.

Congo LNG Project

• resource base is the shallow Marine XII block offshore Congo, where Eni has discovered a field that is estimated to contain about 7 trillion cf of natural gas:
  – area 571 km2,
  – located on the shelf of the Republic of Congo 20 km from the coast,
  – 5 deposits have been discovered within the site,
  – proven and probable reserves (2P) are estimated:
  – oil – 1.3 billion barrels,
  – natural gas – 179 billion m3,
  – in present day the shallow-water Nene and Litchendjili fields, located on the Marine XII block, produce 28 thousand barrels per day of oil and 48 million m3 per day of gas,
  – on the shelf in 2025, production is estimated at more than 100 thousand barrels/day and about 100 million m3/day of gas;
• the fuel will be used to generate electricity domestically and also exported to international markets, with a focus on Europe;
• the project involves the use of 2x FLNG:
  – Tango FLNG with a capacity of 0.6 million tons/year of LNG,
  – Congo FLNG with a capacity of 2.4 million tons/year:
  – length – 380 m,
  – width – 60 m,
  – Eni concluded a contract with the Chinese shipyard at the end of 2022,
  – Official construction of the FLNG began on January 17, 2023 and is progressing as planned, including the fabrication of cargo tanks and hull,
  – at the beginning of July, Wison Heavy Industry (a subsidiary of Wison) began manufacturing the upper part for FLNG,
  – In August 2023, Wison Offshore & Marine (WOM) completed the final assembly of the IMO Type B self-supporting prismatic tank (SPB) for LNG storage:
  – tank capacity – 47 thousand m3,
  – height – 24 m,
  – length and width – 45 m each,
  – Made of aluminum alloy.

Eni, which has been present in Congo since 1963, seeks to exploit its gas resources within the scenario of Italy phasing out Russian natural gas.
It is expected that 2 LNG plants will allow exporting about 1 billion m3 of gas from Congo in the winter of 2023-2024. and up to 4.5 billion/year, starting from the winter of 2024-2025.

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