The Republic of the Congo has signed a $23 billion hydrocarbon agreement with the Chinese oil and gas company Wing Wah for the integrated development of Cayo, Banga Kayo, and Holmoni permits.
The deal was reported by Enerdata on Tuesday that and will help increase the country’s national production to 500,000 barrels per day by 2030.
Under the agreement, Congo aims to achieve cumulative production of over 1.3 billion barrels across the three permits by 2050.
The project also includes an integrated gas monetization component, which involves the multi-phase expansion of LNG and cooking gas to meet both domestic demand and export market needs.
Congo’s oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) production declined by 20% between 2019 and 2022, reaching 13.7 metric tons, but rebounded in 2023 to 14.3 metric tons.
To strengthen production, the country’s national oil company, Société nationale des pétroles du Congo (SNPC), unveiled plans to raise $319 million through bond issuance in partnership with regional financiers.
“We are showing we can finance our own economy without depending on costly international funds,” stated Yannick Mefane, CEO of Premium Capital Securities and co-arranger of the bond issuance.
New upstream efforts underway
Like most oil-rich African countries, the Congo is heavily dependent on oil, which accounts for a significant share of its external revenues and national income.
“Fossil fuels remain necessary for our economies, even if we are working on an energy transition,” said Maixent Ominga, DG of the national oil company SNPC.
The Congo sees foreign oil players as key to boosting exploration and sustaining output as the global market faces price swings.
TotalEnergies secured a permit earlier this month to explore the Nzombo offshore oil block, which lies close to its Moho oil production facilities. Moho is one of the country’s largest oil projects and has been in operation since 2017.
The Nzombo block spans about 1,000 square kilometers and is located nearly 100 kilometers off Congo’s coastal commercial hub of Pointe Noire.
TotalEnergies plans to invest $500 million in the project, holding a 50% stake in the block alongside QatarEnergy (35%) and the state-owned SNPC (15%).
In July, Italian Eni signed a five-year agreement with Bourbon to supply six new vessels to boost offshore gas activities in the country.
“With this new fleet, we are reinforcing our commitment to offshore mobility that is more sustainable, more efficient, and perfectly aligned with the expectations of our major customers,” said François Leslé, CEO of Bourbon Mobility.
As part of this move to begin phase two of the Congo LNG project, Eni recently celebrated the sail-away ceremony for the production vessel that will be used for the project.
