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Congo News

27 Feb 2024

Congo’s First LNG Cargo to Set Sail in Coming Days

(Credit: Eni)

The first LNG cargo from Eni's Congo LNG project is currently being loaded and will sail to Piombino’s regasification terminal in Italy in the coming days.With the first cargo, the Republic of the Congo enters the group of LNG exporting countries, opening up opportunities for economic growth while contributing to global energy balance.The Congo LNG project, sanctioned in December 2022, came on stream after just one year, in line with the initial timeline.Eni started the introduction…

04 Dec 2023

Pakistan Becomes Party to Hong Kong Convention

Source: IMO

Pakistan has become a Party to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009 (Hong Kong Convention).Vice Admiral (Retd.) Iftikhar Ahmad Rao, Maritime Minister and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Maritime Affairs, Pakistan, deposited the instrument of accession with IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim at IMO Headquarters in London on November 30.The deposit follows an IMO-run national seminar in Karachi to…

30 Oct 2023

World Maritime University Graduates Class of '23

Photo credit: World Maritime University

On 28 October, the maritime leaders of tomorrow - World Maritime University (WMU) class of 2023 - graduated. The WMU 2023 graduating class includes 283 graduates from 71 countries, including a record of 99 women graduates.WMU President, Professor Maximo Q. Mejia, Jr., delivered welcome remarks. As a WMU graduate himself, President Mejia reflected on the power of the WMU experience and how it affects the way one thinks, works, plans, and interacts. “You have acquired information that you did not possess before you enrolled here," he said.

23 Oct 2023

Tango FLNG and Excalibur FSU Set to Begin Journey from Dubai to Eni's Congo LNG Project

Credit: Exmar

The sailaway ceremony for the Tango floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit and Excalibur floating storage unit (FSU) was held Saturday to mark the vessels' sail away from Dubai to Congo, where they will serve Eni's Congo LNG project, whose first phase will start in December 2023.Tango FLNG, which has a liquefaction capacity of approximately 1 billion cubic meters per annum of gas (BCMA), will be moored 3 kilometers offshore along with the Excalibur FSU upon their arrival to Congo.EXMAR is serving as the engineering, procurement and conversion (EPC) contractor for this project, and has desi

08 May 2023

Tanker Crew Members Rescued More Than Five weeks After Gulf of Guinea Pirate Attack

Six crew members who were kidnapped by pirates from a Danish-owned ship in the Gulf of Guinea in late March have been rescued from an undisclosed location in Nigeria, the vessel's owner said on Monday.The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker Monjasa Reformer with 16 crew members was hijacked on March 25 by five armed assailants some 140 miles west of the Republic of Congo's Port Pointe-Noire."All recovered crew members are in a relatively good health condition given the difficult circumstances they have been under in the last more than five weeks," Monjasa CEO Anders Ostergaard said in a statement.The crew members have all received medical checks and are now being repatriated to their home countries and families, he added.

04 Apr 2023

Six Dead, 64 Missing After Vessel Sinks in Congo's Lake Kivu

© Adrian / Adobe Stock

Six people were killed and 64 others were missing after a boat capsized in Democratic Republic of Congo's Lake Kivu early on Monday, local authorities said.Mustapha Mamboleo, a local official at Idjwi island in the lake, said 150 passengers were aboard the motorized boat traveling from Mugote village on Idjwi island to the eastern city of Goma and 80 of them survived.Mathieu Alimasi Malumbi, the transport minister for South Kivu province, confirmed the incident."I can confirm that there was a capsizing of a motorboat with more than 100 passengers on board, many of whom were not on the manifest

03 Apr 2023

French Navy Escorts Tanker in Gulf of Guinea After Hijackers Abandon Ship

The French navy on Friday escorted a tanker to port in the Gulf of Guinea after pirates abandoned the vessel and kidnapped some of the crew, the ship's owner told Reuters.The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker Monjasa Reformer with 16 crew members was hijacked [Saturday, March 25] by five armed assailants 140 miles west of the Republic of Congo's Port Pointe-Noire.The hijackers abandoned the ship late [last] Thursday but took some crew members with them, Danish shipping company Monjasa, which owns the vessel, said on Friday."We have our vessel secured. We have our crew members secured on board, or part of the crew members. So right now we are being escorted by the French Navy," Chief Operating Officer Svend Stenberg Molholt said in an interview.

31 Mar 2023

Gulf of Guinea Tanker Hijacking: Pirates Abandon Ship, Take Some Crew Members with Them

Pirates have abandoned a Danish-owned ship that was hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea last week, and have taken some crew members with them, while others have been brought to safety, the vessel's owner said on Friday.The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker Monjasa Reformer with 16 crew members was boarded by five armed people 140 miles west of the Republic of Congo's Port Pointe-Noire, its owner said at the time.The Monjasa shipping company declined to say how many crew members were still missing.The Reformer subsequently went missing, but was later located by the French navy off Sao Tome and Principe, Monjasa said in a statement."Our thoughts are with the crew members still missing and their families during this stressful period.

29 Mar 2023

Ship Seized by Pirates Seen 540 Miles West from Gulf of Guinea Attack Point

A Danish-owned vessel that was boarded by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday was spotted about 540 miles further off shore on Tuesday, according to a maritime cooperation centre monitoring security in the area.The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker Monjasa Reformer was boarded by five armed people some 140 miles west of the Republic of Congo's Port Pointe-Noire. All 16 crew sought refuge in a safe room aboard, according to the cooperation centre.Danish marine fuels supplier Monjasa, owner of Monjasa Reformer, said on Tuesday all communications channels with the vessel were down. The company was unable to provide further detail on Wednesday for security reasons…

28 Mar 2023

Pirates Board Danish-owned Ship in Gulf of Guinea

Pirates have attacked and boarded a Danish-owned ship in the Gulf of Guinea and all communications channels with the vessel are down, a spokesperson for shipping company Monjasa said on Tuesday.All 16 crew members sought refuge in a safe room onboard the Monjasa Reformer vessel, the spokesperson said.The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker, which was sitting idle, was attacked on Saturday about 140 miles west of the Republic of Congo's Port Pointe-Noire.The vessel is operated by Dubai-based Montec Ship Management, which is owned by Monjasa.Montec reported the incident to a maritime cooperation centre operated by the British and French navies to maintain safety in the Gulf of Guinea.The operator is working with all relevant maritime authorities in the region…

20 Mar 2023

Lukoil-backed Congo Project to Start Producing LNG in December

Tango FLNG - Credit: Exmar

A senior executive at Russia's Lukoil energy company said a project in the Congo in which it is involved would begin producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in December, Russian news agencies reported. Lukoil Vice President Ivan Romanovsky said the initiative would produce around 600,000 tonnes of LNG per year, and that Lukoil plans to boost total LNG output at the Marine XII oil and gas project in the Congo to 3 million tonnes by the end of 2025.Lukoil acquired a 25% stake in Marine XII in 2019.

24 Jan 2023

Subsea Mining Plans Pit Renewable Energy Demand Against Ocean Life

Deep sea sponges and other creatures live on and among valuable manganese nodules like this one that could be mined from the seafloor. ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood…

23 Dec 2022

Eni to Deploy FLNG Unit Offshore the Republic of Congo

2.4 MTPA FLNG Rendering - Credit: Wison

Italian oil giant Eni has signed a contract with China's Wison Heavy Industry for the construction and installation of a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit with a capacity of 2.4 MTPA (million tons per annum). The FLNG will be deployed offshore the Republic of Congo.The 380-meter-long and 60-meter-wide vessel will be anchored at a water-depth of around 40 meters and will be able to store over 180,000 cubic meters of LNG and 45,000 cubic meters of LPG. Preliminary activities have already started…

05 Dec 2022

Anti-famine Push: Ukraine Says Ship with Wheat for Ethiopia Arrives

Illustration:  ©Elena/AdobeStock

A ship with Ukrainian wheat destined for Ethiopia arrived in port on Saturday, the first vessel to sail as part of a push to send food to countries most vulnerable to famine and drought, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Last Saturday, Ukraine and allied nations launched an initiative to export $150 million worth of grain to Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Congo, Kenya, and Yemen. "We ship food. We ship hope," Zelenskiy said in a tweet accompanying a short clip of a vessel carrying 25…

14 Sep 2022

Italy Must Increase LNG Capacity in 2023, Eni CEO Says

Claudio Descalzi (Photo: Eni)

Italy must increase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity from next year, energy group Eni's chief executive said on Wednesday.Italy has already secured additional gas imports from Algeria and Norway to make up for a fall in supplies from Russia, but it needs additional LNG terminals to receive more fuel from several countries, Claudio Descalzi said at a business conference.Descalzi said the state-controlled group, which last year imported about 21 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Russia out of a total of 29 bcm imported by Italy…

12 Sep 2022

Exmar Pens LNG Carrier Deal with Eni. Closes Tango FLNG Sale

Belgian shipowner Exmar said on Friday it had signed a 10-year charter deal for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel Excalibur with Eni as the Belgian shipowner closes the sale of its Tango LNG barge to the Italian energy group.The squeeze on oil and gas imports from Russia, following what Moscow calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine, has left Western powers scrambling to plug the energy gap, pushing them to expand LNG capacity.Exmar, which had been struggling to find a user to charter one of its giant LNG ships, said in August it had agreed to sell its Tango LNG floating liquefaction facility to Italy's Eni for 572 million to 694 million dollars.The group said in an earnings report that it had recently signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Excalibur…

05 Aug 2022

Eni Buys Exmar's Tango FLNG for Use in the Congo

(Photo: Exmar)

Italian oil major Eni announced it has signed a deal to to buy the Tango FLNG floating liquefaction plant from Belgium-based Exmar for use in the Republic of Congo. Under the agreement, Eni will acquire Exmar's company Export LNG Ltd, which owns the Tango FLNG.Tango FLNG, delivered in 2017, has a storage capacity of 16,100 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and a liquefaction capacity of up to 0.6 million tons per year.The value of the transaction is in a range of $572 and $694 million, depending on the unit's performance during the first six months on site, Exmar said.

14 Jun 2022

West Africa Market Harbors Positive Potential for MODU Operators

Chart courtesy MSI

The region could be a key growth market for the oil and gas industry going forward, writes Joshua Belo-Osagie, Maritime Strategies International (MSI).Improving sentiment surrounds energy market prospects offshore West Africa, the positive mood underpinned by higher oil prices, reformed regulatory frameworks in key markets including Angola and Nigeria and the discovery of major prospects off the Ivory Coast and Namibia.In addition, the implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have only reinforced some of these pre-existing dynamics…

01 Apr 2022

New Fortress Energy Plans to Build Offshore LNG Export Project in Louisiana by Q1 2023

Image for illustration - New Fortress Energy's Fast LNG liquefaction design pairs modular, midsize liquefaction technology with jack-up rigs or similar floating offshore infrastructure to enable lower cost and faster deployment schedule compared to conventional floating liquefaction vessels and onshore liquefaction terminals. The company last year bought two jack-up rigs from Maersk Drilling to use them for Fast LNG project. - File Image: Maersk Drilling

U.S. energy company New Fortress Energy Inc said on Thursday it filed with federal regulators to build an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project off Louisiana that could enter service as soon as the first quarter of 2023.That is much faster than the usual two to four years it takes to build a land-based LNG plant and, if completed, would help the United States meet President Joe Biden's recently announced goal of sending more LNG to Europe to help allies wean themselves off Russian gas.Last week…

31 Jan 2022

Construction Begins for Congo's First Deep-water Port

© donvictori0 / Adobe Stock

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday launched the construction of the country's first deep-water port, a $1.2 billion project that has drawn criticism for being built on the edge of a protected wetlands.Banana Port, to be built by Dubai's port giant DP World, will border Congo's Mangrove Marine Park, a nature reserve that contains a variety of vulnerable or endangered plant and animal species.The port at Banana, a sandy spit of land at the mouth of Congo River, will process 322,000 containers per year, Congolese Minister of Industry Julien Paluku said on Twitter, p

22 Jul 2021

Cyber Attack Disrupts Operations at South African Port

Cape Town port - Credit: Chris/AdobeStock

A cyber attack has disrupted container operations at the South African port of Cape Town, an email seen by Reuters on Thursday said.Durban, the busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, was also affected, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.Cape Town Harbour Carriers Association said in an email to members, seen by Reuters: "Please note that the port operating systems have been cyber-attacked and there will be no movement of cargo until the system is restored."Transnet's official website was down on Thursday showing an error message.Transnet…

01 Jul 2021

James Fisher Sells Dive Support Vessel to Seamec

Credit: James Fisher (file photo)

UK-based offshore services provider James Fisher and Sons has agreed to sell its dive support vessel [Subtech] Paladin.The company has sold the DSV to the Indian offshore services provider Seamec for $17.3 million."This announcement is in line with the Group's newly stated capital allocation policy to reduce leverage, in the short term, through the sale of non-core assets," James Fisher said.The 104 meters long vessel, previously known as Toisa Paladin was built by Kleven in 2008. Seamec has confirmed the acquisition of the vessel in a statementon Thursday.

16 Jun 2021

Chevron Marine Lubricants Expands in Africa

Photo courtesy Chevron Marine Lubricants.

Chevron Marine Lubricants announced a plan to boost its presence in African ports, extending its joint venture with Akwa Group. Chevron is now an equal partner in Afriquia Lubrifiants, with plans to extend the blending, distribution, and marketing business beyond Morocco to markets in sub-Saharan Africa.The agreement enables theJV to manufacture Chevron’s premium products locally for the first time, including Chevron Marine Lubricants’ product portfolio. The new roadmap includes the export of lubricant products to 14 countries in North and West Africa: Algeria…