Ivory Coast OKs gas terminal project where SOCAR owns share

Ivory Cost, West Africa's largest economy, has given the green light to the construction of a gas terminal, where Azerbaijan’s energy major SOCAR has a share.

SOCAR earlier took a weighty step to expand its presence in the energy market of West African countries by obtaining a share in Ivory Coast LNG consortium led by France’s Total Company.

The consortium was earlier awarded the rights to build and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) re-gasification terminal in Ivory Coast with a capacity of 3 million tons per year. The decision announced by the government of the Ivory Coast on October 4, was followed by the signature of the shareholders’ agreement in Abidjan.

Under the agreement, which was first announced on November 24, Total will operate the project with a 34-percent share, while SOCAR will control 26 percent. Ivorian state oil company Petroci will be the owner of 11 percent share, Royal Dutch Shell will hold a 13 percent stake, while Houston-based Endeavor Energy and Golar LNG will have minority stakes.

The re-gasification terminal project is expected to become operational by mid-2018. Total is expected to make a final investment decision on the project in the first quarter of 2017

The project involves the construction of a terminal with a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) in Vridi, Abidjan area, and a pipeline connecting the FSRU to existing and planned power plants in Abidjan, as well as to regional markets connected to the Ivorian network.

This will enable Ivory Coast to become the first regional LNG import hub in West Africa and to meet both regional and domestic demand, which is rising steadily (about 10 percent) each year. The country is considered to have the region's most reliable power production sector, a lack of new domestic gas discoveries, however, has put the gas supply for power generation at risk. The establishment of LNG in Ivory Coast is expected to open a new era in the production of electricity.

Being established in September 1992 and headquartered in Baku, SOCAR is involved in extraction, exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, as well as oil and chemical products in domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to the industry and the public in Azerbaijan.