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Russian business working successfully in energy sector of Republic of the Congo — envoy

The Russian company also has projects in the republic’s gas sector

PRETORIA, August 28. /TASS/. Russian businesses are having success operating Africa, exemplified by Lukoil's activity in the Republic of the Congo, Russian Ambassador to the republic Ilyas Iskandarov told TASS.

"In September 2019, Russian energy giant Lukoil entered the Republic of the Congo," the diplomat said. "The company became the first (Russian) operator on the Congolese market, having acquired a 25% stake in the development of the Marine XI field and working on this project in cooperation with Italy’s Eni (65% - TASS) and National Petroleum Company of Congo (10% - TASS)," he added.

The Russian company also has projects in the republic’s gas sector. "In December 2022, Lukoil together with Eni launched another large project, to produce liquefied natural gas with a capacity of 600,000 tons per year with the possibility to bring it to 3 mln tons per year," the ambassador said. "A notable milestone, on February 27, 2024, the first LNG was officially shipped. Overall, a modernization of existing facilities in the country was completed within the project, and the construction of a new floating gas liquefaction facility with a total capacity of 3 mln tons of LNG per year is underway. The scale of Lukoil’s entry into the Republic of the Congo is underscored by the fact that its accumulated investment totaled around $1.3 bln in 2019-2023. The company is looking at various options to further boost its presence in the oil producing sector," he stressed.

Since the republic became independent in 1960, its oil sector has gradually entrenched itself as the locomotive of the economy, Iskanderov noted. "The oil sector accounts for 66% of GDP, more than 70% of budget and around 90% of export revenues," he said. "In terms of oil production, the Republic of the Congo is the third-largest country in Subsaharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola," the envoy said, adding that the country also "became an OPEC member in 2018."

Today "the oil and gas sector is running at a high level of efficiency, due to the 2022 launch of the Moho Nord offshore field," being developed jointly by the Tota and Chevron companies, among others, he said. "Its reserves are estimated at 65 mln tons, while production stands at 110,000 barrels per day. Together with the Moho Phase 1 field the daily volume of production reaches 140,000 barrels, which accounts for more than half of oil output in the Congo per day," Iskanderov said.

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