The dream of a Africa French speaking country in achieving sufficiency in domestic gas is not far from reality. This following the arrival of the first equipment packages needed to finalize the construction of the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas or butane gas) production plant in Batanga, in the Ogooué-Maritime province of Gabon in Port-Gentil as reported by New Gabon via the country’s Ministry of Petroleum. The cargo is composed, among other things, of storage equipment, cooling systems, columns for the extraction of propane and butane and their associated equipment. This equipment imported from Europe was received at the end of last March in Port-Gentil, the economic capital of the country.

This equipment should enable the oil company Perenco to speed up construction work on the plant located 70 km from Port-Gentil, the start-up of which is scheduled for the 3 rd quarter of 2023. With a forecast capacity of 15,000 tonnes of butane gas per year (approximately 35% of national consumption), the commissioning of this plant will reduce the country’s gas imports by more than 50%. Gabon plans to also become a gas exporter by 2026 thanks to this infrastructure.

For the moment, Gabon produces only 20% of its national consumption, and resorts to imports to fill the gap, despite its gas potential. A gas potential which is currently exploited by the oil company Perenco from two deposits (Ganga and Ozangue).