Equit Guin double reserves part 129 Oct 2009 08:54
GoG News:
Eq. Guinea to double gas exports within 5 yrs
Wed Oct 28
* Eq. Guinea to start second LNG train within five years
* Regional export hub master plan delayed to next year
* Dispute with BG Group resolved
* Oil production to plateau below 300,000 bpd
By Richard Valdmanis
DAKAR, Oct. 28 (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea will double its natural gas exports within five years, though the blueprint it is drafting with partners to do so has been delayed for months, a top energy official told Reuters on Wednesday.
"We have the good problem of having more gas in Equatorial Guinea than we thought," Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy Gabriel Obiang Lima said by phone. "We have had to go back and redo all the figures in the master plan."
The tiny coastal country, nestled in one of Africa's most energy-rich areas, wants to become the regional hub for gas exports using domestic supply as well as fuel piped in from neighbouring Nigeria and Cameroon.
Natural gas, once a landlocked fuel, has become increasingly global as producers invest in infrastructure to freeze it into a shippable commodity for use in the Americas, Europe and Asia, primarily for electricity generation.
Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas, Spain's Union Fenosa and Portugal's Galp Energia have been working with Equatorial Guinea's Sonagas to complete a draft plan for the project, initially scheduled for completion by October.