Belgian shipping company Exmar has signed an agreement with Italian oil and gas company Eni for the sale of Tango FLNG.
Therefore, Eni acquired the company Export LNG , which owns the Tango FLNG floating liquefaction facility, from the Exmar group.
The facility will be used by Eni in the Republic of Congo, as part of the activities of the natural gas development project in the Marine XII block. This is in line with Eni’s strategy to leverage gas equity resources.
The Tango FLNG was built in 2017. The vessel has a treatment capacity of approximately three million standard cubic metres per day and an LNG production capacity of roughly 0.6 million tonnes per year (about one billion standard cubic metres per year). It has a storage capacity of 16,100 cubic metres of LNG.
The value of the transaction for the sale of Tango FLNG is in the range of $572 and$ 694 million, depending on the actual performance of the Tango FLNG during the first six months on site. The facility will be made available to Eni at the closing date of the transaction, which is expected in the second half of August 2022.
According to Eni, the acquisition of this facility allows the development of a fast-track model capable of seizing the opportunities of the LNG market. In addition, the high flexibility and mobility characteristics of the Tango FLNG will favor the development and enhancement of Eni’s equity gas by accelerating production start-up time.
Tango FLNG will begin its activity in Congo in the second half of 2023, following the completion of mooring and connection works necessary to tie with the Marine XII network and infrastructure. LNG production from Marine XII is expected to begin in 2023. When fully operational, it will provide volumes in excess of three million tones per year (over 4.5 billion cubic metres per year).
As part of the project, Eni and EXMAR also agreed on a ten-year charter for a floating storage unit (FSU). Its will be based on the conversion of an LNG carrier. Furthermore, EXMAR will provide operations and maintenance services for both TangoO FLNG and the FSU and engineering services for the project which will be the object of separate contracts.
EXMAR’s executive chairman Nicolas Saverys said: “We are pleased to work with Eni to help increase their LNG supplies on a fast track basis. This represents a significant milestone for EXMAR in its ambition and proof of our ability to further develop LNG infrastructure solutions.”