LNG shutdown to last till mid-2015

The Angola liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project is expected to resume production in mid-2015 following a rupture on a flare line that forced it to shut down.

“Following investigation into the incident that took place at the plant in Soyo on 10 April 2014, Angola LNG will pull forward a planned shutdown to allow its contractor Bechtel to both correct items from the incident and – in parallel – address plant capacity issues,” a spokesman for the Chevron-led project said. It is expected that this work will continue into next year, with the plant anticipated to restart in mid-2015, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the Angola’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project aims to charter out its entire tanker fleet after ther rupture on the flare line which crippled output at the $10 billion plant.

The project partners led by US oil major Chevron have approached shipbrokers to charter out all seven LNG carriers dedicated to Angola’s liquefaction facility. One of the tankers has already been chartered to a shipper and is due to load a cargo soon.