Togo and Equatorial Guinea have signed a strategic agreement to facilitate the trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) between them, a move that aims to boost upstream and midstream LNG activities in the western and central African countries
Under the terms of the agreement, Togo will import LNG from Equatorial Guinea. According to the Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons in Equatorial Guinea, this agreement is a part of the LNG2Africa initiative, in which the country promotes utilisation of LNG within Africa, using gas sourced and processed in the continent.
The government of Togo said that it will explore the regasification opportunities of LNG, to study its use for power generation in the country.
Africa needs to reconceptualise oil and gas opportunities in the region and the partnership between Togo and Equatorial Guinea aims to bring a sustainable solution to further explore the potentials in the continent’s hydrocarbon possibilities.
Speaking about the oil and gas opportunities in Africa, Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, minister of mines and hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea, said, “It is imperative that African nations monetise their gas, and that energy users benefit from this cheaper, cleaner, locally produced resource.”
Before signing the MoU with Togo, Obiang Lima paid a working visit to the minister of energy of Burkina Faso, Bechir Ismael Quedraogo. The ministers and technical teams worked on the implementation of the MoU signed between Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso in September 2017 under the LNG2Africa initiative.
Both the ministers agreed to follow a detailed plan to supply LNG to power plants in Burkina Faso. Once received approval, Burkina Faso is expected to immediately benefit from LNG supplies from Equatorial Guinea.
The gas activities in Africa have gained a momentum in recent days, with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) developing 614km Ajaokuta - Kaduna - Kano (AKK) trans-Nigeria gas pipeline project and Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) planning to build US$125mn facilities to handle and store liquefied-petroleum-gas (LPG), to increase the use of cooking-gas in the East African country.
