Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria are already LNG exporters to Europe and Asia, but more LNG will be needed by the mid-2020s to meet the global demand.
Global LNG demand will reach 700mta by 2040, a 90% increase in demand in 2021, according to Shell. LNG Outlook 2022. While much of this demand growth will come from Asia, Shell stresses that Europe must take a strategic approach to ensure “reliable and flexible gas supply in the future to avoid exposure to price spikes”. The energy giant predicts that a gap between LNG supply and demand will emerge in the mid-2020s and warns that more investment will be needed “to increase supply and meet growing LNG demand, especially in Asia”.
New Fortress Energy (NFE) internal management estimates put this gap between LNG supply and demand at 164 mta by 2030 “unless additional liquefaction capacity is built and quickly brought online. “.
New liquefaction capacity in Africa will come from Eni Coral-Sul FLNG, which will start producing 3.4 mta off the coast of Mozambique before the end of 2022. Nigeria, meanwhile, will increase its LNG production capacity from 22 mta to 30 mta with its Train 7 expansion from by 2024. TotalEnergies will restart the construction of its LNG in Mozambique. terminal, with commercial operations in 2026 at the earliest.
In the shorter term, NFE will deploy its innovative Fast LNG liquefaction technology under a Memorandum of Understanding (HoA) with Eni off the coast of the Republic of Congo for a period of 20 years. With a planned start-up in the third quarter of 2023, NFE’s Fast LNG facility will produce 1.4 Mta of LNG from the associated gas fields off the coast of Congo. NFE’s Fast LNG liquefaction design uses medium-sized modular liquefaction technology installed on jack-up rigs or similar floating infrastructure in shipyards to enable lower capital investment and faster deployment than other vessels floating liquefaction.
“Nigeria will increase its LNG production capacity from 22 mta to 30 mta by 2024”
Another African country that could become a major LNG exporter is Tanzania. Years of government licensing delays have held back investment and development of Tanzania’s offshore gas resources, but those sticking points appear to be disappearing with a friendlier administration now in power led by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Local reports indicate that Tanzania plans to sign a host government agreement with major oil and gas developers by the end of May 2022.
This is a crucial step in the development of a US$30 billion onshore LNG plant, which is expected to come to market within the next five years. Shell, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Pavilion Energy and Ophir all hold stakes in blocks that have significant gas resources to support future LNG production.
Based on location, Africa is well positioned to bridge some of the future LNG supply and demand gap, and floating LNG vessels and innovative modular fast lane technology will play a critical role in this. feeding a market hungry for LNG.
