China’s Wison (Nantong) Heavy Industry has held a steel-cutting ceremony for the hull of Eni’s Congo floating LNG production unit.
The unit of Wison Offshore & Marine held the ceremony for Eni’s Marine XII offshore FLNG project at its Nantong yard on March 31, according to a statement by Wison.
Stefano Maione, executive VP of Eni, Hua Bangsong, CEO of WOM, and relevant staff members attended the ceremony, it said.
Wison, Eni, together with the project’s classification society, major suppliers, and construction contractors also signed the HSE pledge of subcontractor for the project to ensure that it will be carried out under the principle of “safety, environment-friendly, and sustainable development.”
The Chinese firm won this contract in December last year and officially started work on the project on January 17, 2023.
Wison said the first cut of the hull steel signals launching of the full-scale production and construction stage for this project.
Under the project, Wison will build a 380 meters long 2.4 mtpa FLNG with 60 meters in breadth and 35 meters in draft, with the topside modules weighing about 40,000 tons.
It will be able to store over 180,000 cubic meters of LNG.
The unit will be moored using a submerged swivel yoke system in about 40 meters water depth in the Nene Marine Field area, about 50 kilometers offshore Pointe Noire.
Wison expects the unit to begin LNG production in the second quarter of 2026.
Second FLNG
This facility will be the second FLNG to be deployed in Congo.
In August last year, Eni signed a deal to buy Exmar’s Tango FLNG and expects the unit to start production in 2023.
The floating LNG producer, delivered in 2017 by Wison, has a storage capacity of 16,100 cbm as well as a liquefaction capacity of up to 0.6 million tons per year.
With the second FLNG, overall LNG production capacity on Marine XII would reach 3 million tons/year or over 4.5 billion cubic meters/year in 2025, Eni previously said.
Both initiatives are part of Marine XII gas valorization plan, in line with Eni’s strategy to leverage gas equity.
Besides these units, Eni shipped the first cargo of LNG in November from its 3.4 mtpa Coral Sul FLNG located offshore Mozambique.
In addition, Eni is planning to install a second floating LNG production unit offshore Mozambique as well.
