In a bid to optimize the country\u2019s gas potential and revitalize its hydrocarbons sector, the Congo has put together and launched, at the end of 2021, a plan to put its estimated 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves to good use. The new Gas Master Plan (GMP) is designed to promote gas utilization and attract foreign direct investment, while reducing its dependency on oil revenues and expanding the country\u2019s power grid.<\/p>\n
Developed by the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Wood Mackenzie, guided by Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Nationale des P\u00e9troles du Congo (SNPC), the GMP is a road map to the Congo\u2019s natural gas future both for domestic consumption as well as exports.<\/p>\n
For exports in particular, the government sees small-scale Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) as optimal, specifying Eni\u2019s Marine XII field as a prime target for this solution. FLNG however, particularly at a small scale, doesn\u2019t come cheap, and changes to the country\u2019s current fiscal terms will need to be updated for these projects to be viable.<\/p>\n
Anticipating such challenges, the plan opens the door to renegotiating existing contracts and even suggests the establishment of a whole new Natural Gas Policy designed to facilitate the commercialization of stranded and flared natural gas, calling for operators like Eni and TotalEnergies to come to the table to discuss what terms will be optimal for the sector\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
On the domestic front, however, the Congo is much more advanced than most of its neighbors, having one of the very few large-scale gas-to-power projects in the region. The Central \u00c9lectrique du Congo, fed by ENI\u2019s Marine XII offshore block, currently produces nearly 70% of the country\u2019s electricity, and stands as a grand example of what its power generation future can look like.<\/p>\n
However, adjustments to pricing systems and transport infrastructure development will certainly be needed for that future to come through. Ensuring fairness and competitiveness in the domestic natural gas market still represents a major hurdle for both buyers and sellers, but the plan expects that a novel pricing aggregator system ensuring price stability could limit those challenges.<\/p>\n