Angola's much-delayed liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has started exports, with the first cargo shipped to Brazil on Sunday, the Angola LNG venture said in a statement. The $10-billion plant was initially due to start exports 18 months ago, but has been beset by delays caused by technical problems, including a fire in April.
"The first cargo was sold to Angola's state oil and gas company Sonangol and is currently being shipped to Brazil by the Sonangol Sambizanga, one of seven LNG vessels that are under long-term charter to the project," Angola LNG said.
"This marks the first new LNG supply to come on-stream since 2010, and provides a new source to meet the increasing global demand for LNG," it said.
An Angola LNG spokesman confirmed reports that the plant would be shut down for tests following the first cargo.
"As is standard with similar projects, the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation contractor plans to shut down the plant after the first cargo has been loaded to run a series of tests and checks and ensure the ongoing safe and reliable production of LNG," he said.
"Following these tests we plan to restart the plant and ramp up production," he added, without providing details on the timing of the tests and restart.
Angola LNG was initially due to export mainly to US buyers, but has been forced to turn to other markets in the wake of a rapid increase in US shale gas production spurred by new drilling and extraction technologies.
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