Africa Oil & Gas: Cameroon, Newage sign FLNG fiscal terms

Jersey-registered but London-based Africa E&P independent NewAge said June 8 that its CMLNG subsidiary has signed a gas convention agreement (GCA) with the government of Cameroon.

It sets out fiscal terms for its planned floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project offshore Cameroon and was signed in the capital Yaounde the same day, with energy minister Eloundou Essomba Gaston present.

Sources say the 1.3mn metric tons/yr FLNG export project is still eying start-up in 2023, implying a final investment decision will be taken within the next two years.

NewAge chairman Steve Lowden said: “The outlook for LNG markets is structurally attractive through the first half of the next decade when our project will be coming on stream.”

Project company CMLNG remains wholly NewAge-owned, but sources indicate it may seek additional investor partners; state E&P company, SNH, is believed to have a right to opt in to a small minority stake.

CMLNG will utilise a newly-built FLNG production vessel to process gas from the Etinde production sharing licence. NewAge said a contract was awarded in 2016 to a consortium led by SBM Offshore, in conjunction with Japan’s JGC Corp and Chinese partners to build the vessel. Its expected process capacity is 1.3mn mt of LNG per year, plus 32,000 b/d condensate and 0.15mn mt LPG.

In addition to the production vessel, NewAge expects that a “substantial onshore administration and logistical support base” will be developed in the coastal cities of Limbe or Douala.

The FLNG project will be developed in conjunction with the upstream Etinde development (operated by NewAge 37.5%, alongside partners Russia’s Lukoil 37.5% and UK-listed Bowleven 25%) which will include gas and LPG/condensate production facilities, added NewAge.

NewAge said June 8 that, over 25 years, the FLNG project will spend over $1.5bn locally, creating “significant revenues for the government” and further development of a large onshore marine support base with the creation of over 350 skilled local jobs and a further 3,000 indirect jobs; a dedicated training centre is also planned for development in Douala, as well as graduate placements.

Cameroon, through a project led by French firm Perenco and involving SNH and Golar LNG, became the first and so far only country to develop a FLNG export venture offshore West Africa, exporting its first cargo on May 17; that project attained commercial acceptance earlier this month.