ANGOLA      ALGERIA      CAMEROON      CHAD.      CONGO      EGYPT..      EQUATORIAL GUINEA      GABON      LIBYA.     NIGERIA      SOUTH AFRICA      SUDAN      TUNISIA      OTHERS 

Marathon's LNG Plant in Eq. Guinea Resumes Production in Dec

11-12-2007

Marathon Oil announces that repairs which close down the output at its new LNG plant in Equatorial Guinea would last until mid-November or early December.

The $1.5 billion plant, on the northwest side of Bioko Island, made its first gas shipment in May under a 17-year deal with BG Gas Marketing LTD (BG) to supply it with all the production from the plant's first production train.

BG has LNG facilities in the United States and is part of a consortium building a plant in Britain. Marathon officials have said the production outage is not unusual for a new plant ramping up to full production.

Marathon owns a 60 percent stake in the West African country's first liquefaction plant, with 25 percent owned by national gas company Sonagas and the remainder in the hands of Japanese investors.

Equatorial Guinea aims to start work soon on the construction of a second production train at the site to process gas from Nigeria and Cameroon, under agreements signed over the last year.