Image: Saipem
Saipem’s Castorone vessel has arrived in Equatorial Guinea to carry out installation work for the 70-km gas pipeline that will connect Noble Energy’s Alen field with the Punta Europa gas processing facilities.
Valued at $100 million, the pipeline installation contract was awarded to the Italian multinational oilfield services provider by Equatorial Guinea’s Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons. The 24-inch diameter pipeline will be able to handle 950 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day.
The Alen field carries estimated recoverable reserves of approximately 600 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Gas from the field will be fed to the onshore Punta Europa gas complex, which houses liquefied petroleum gas, methanol and liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facilities, in an effort to create an offshore LNG hub in the Gulf of Guinea.
The final investment decision for the Alen Gas Monetization project was signed in April 2019 in Malabo. The project remains on track for a 2021 start-up.