CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -The Republic of Congo expects parliament to pass a new gas code this month, the oil minister said, as the country seeks to attract more investment in a sector at the heart of its national development agenda.
The code provides a legal framework for gas exploration, production and development in the Central African country, which also hopes to double oil production to 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent by the turn of the decade.
“We are guided by a strong conviction: the future of Congo cannot rely solely on oil, it must also rely on gas,” Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, minister of hydrocarbons, told an African energy conference in Cape Town in a speech that was seen by Reuters.
“This is why we have placed gas valorization at the very heart of our strategy,” he said on Wednesday.
Gas production in the country has been underpinned by Eni’s offshore Marine XII concession which contains the Nene and Litchendjili fields, currently in production, and the undeveloped Minsala and Nkala discoveries.
In August, Eni announced the departure from China of its Nguya floating liquefied natural gas unit for the second phase of its Congo LNG project. This unit will raise current production fourfold to 3 million metric tons annually by year-end.
Itoua said the project will strengthen the country’s role on the international gas market and help meet domestic electricity, clean cooking and industrial feedstock needs.
“This project is more than just an industrial achievement, it is a symbol of our determination to diversify our energy mix.”
Besides Eni, Chinese company Wing Wah, French oil major TotalEnergies and Trident Energy are active in the country.
Itoua said the next oil and gas licensing round would be launched before the end of the year, without elaborating.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
