Republic of Congo now an LNG exporter

The Republic of Congo is now a net exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after years of either declining or stable domestic natural gas production.

The country, also known as Congo Brazzaville, began exporting LNG for the first time when the first phase of a two-phase floating LNG (FLNG) project began operating in February 2024. The development of LNG export capacity will allow the country to monetize natural gas production that was previously either flared or reinjected into oil wells, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA).

Congo Brazzaville held an estimated 10 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proved natural gas reserves at the beginning of 2024, according to data from the Oil & Gas Journal. Before the FLNG facility began operating, any natural gas production that was not consumed domestically was either flared or reinjected into crude oil wells to enhance crude oil recovery. According to the World Bank Group, Congo Brazzaville flared about 64 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas in 2022, more than four times its domestic natural gas production in 2022.

In 2024, the Italian energy company Eni, the project operator, completed the first phase of Congo Brazzaville’s first LNG export project. The Tango FLNG facility exported its first LNG cargo at the end of February 2024, which Eni announced on February 27. The Tango FLNG facility has a production capacity of 29 Bcf per year. The second, larger facility will have a production capacity of about 115 Bcf per year and is near the Marine XII block, the source of its natural gas supply. The second facility is under construction and is scheduled to begin operating in 2025.