KEY POINTS
- BP and Eni’s joint venture Azule Energy has launched a 400 MMscf-per-day gas treatment plant in Soyo, six months ahead of schedule.
- The project is Angola’s first major non-associated gas development and strengthens supply to the Angola LNG export facility.
- Angola expects the new plant and related gas projects to support its economic diversification and elevate its position in the global gas market.
BP and Eni’s joint venture in Angola has brought a major gas processing plant into operation in Soyo, marking one of the country’s most significant steps yet in repositioning itself as a competitive supplier of natural gas to global markets.
The facility, operated through Azule Energy, the 50-50 partnership between BP and Eni, came online six months ahead of schedule and immediately began handling output from the Quiluma and Maboqueiro shallow-water fields.
The plant has the capacity to treat about 400 million standard cubic feet of gas a day, along with 20,000 barrels of condensate, before delivering the processed gas to the Angola LNG export terminal. The joint venture described the launch as a milestone for a sector that Angola has long sought to modernise, diversify and detach from its traditional oil-driven structure.
At the inauguration, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, said the country’s 2018 Gas Law had laid the groundwork for this type of development by creating what he called a competitive fiscal and regulatory regime for non-associated gas projects. He praised the speed of delivery, casting it as evidence that the upstream industry can adapt quickly when rules are clear and capital is available.
Project marks Angola’s first major non-associated gas development
President Joao Lourenco echoed the sentiment, telling participants the project should pave the way for a series of similar ventures capable of reinforcing the national economy. Angola is aiming to reshape its energy mix after years of declining oil output, and officials see natural gas as central to that transition.
Azule Energy’s chief executive, Adriano Mongini, said the new facility gives Angola the opportunity to emerge as what he described as a strategic force in global gas markets. He pointed to growing LNG demand across Europe and Asia as a tailwind for Angola’s ambitions.
The start-up comes after the consortium completed the offshore platforms for the Quiluma and Maboqueiro fields earlier in the year. Azule Energy holds 37.4 percent of the New Gas Consortium, with Chevron’s Cabinda Gulf Oil Company owning 31 percent, Sonangol holding nearly 20 percent and TotalEnergies taking just under 12 percent. The same quartet also shares ownership of the Angola LNG venture, which has a capacity of 5.2 million metric tonnes annually.
The wider network supplying Angola LNG is being strengthened as well. Chevron and its partners recently commissioned the first phase of the Sanha Lean Gas Connection project, which provides an additional 80 million standard cubic feet of feed gas to the plant. A second phase, involving a booster compression module, is expected to lift throughput on the Congo River Crossing pipeline to 600 million cubic feet a day, providing more stability for both LNG exports and gas supply to local power plants in Soyo.
The accelerated start-up of the Soyo facility underscores how energy companies operating in Angola are adapting their portfolios to meet rising LNG demand while supporting the country’s push to expand its non-oil revenue base. It also reinforces the strategic value of the Quiluma and Maboqueiro fields, now positioned as anchors for Angola’s long-term gas supply chain.
