Chinese firm scores offshore multimillion-dollar job for Eni’s LNG project

Italy’s energy giant Eni has hired China’s Hilong Group’s Hilong Offshore Engineering to handle the second phase of the offshore transportation and installation works for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the coast of Congo, Africa.

Hilong has won a bid for the second phase of the offshore transportation and installation works for Eni’s Congo LNG project, bringing 400 million RMB ($54.76 million) to its total order backlog of over 4 billion RMB ($547.55 million).

The Chinese company secured nine projects since 2024 from several companies it describes as “internationally renowned oil and gas giants,” including Eni and Thailand’s National Petroleum Corporation, totaling over 2.6 billion RMB ($355.91 million) in contract value.

Congo’s first natural gas liquefaction project designed to exploit the gas resources of the Marine XII project with two floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) units stationed at the Nenè and Litchendjili fields, allowed the African country to gain entrance to the LNG exporters’ club. The FLNG Tango is currently in operation at the site.

The second FLNG unit, Nguya, currently under construction, is expected to be online by the end of 2025, with a capacity of 2.4 million tons per annum (mtpa), enabling the Congo LNG project to reach an overall LNG production capacity of 3 million tons per year or approximately 4.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year from 2025. 

This type of offshore development produces natural gas from subsea wells. The FLNG is used to process and chill it to -162° C (-260° F), shrinking its volume by 600 times to create LNG. The FLNG Tango reportedly surpassed production expectations recently. However, Eni does not share the conclusions drawn by Exmar regarding the latter’s bonus expectations based on the production data.

Some of the deals that were awarded for Congo LNG last year include Wison New Energies’ transport and installation contract to GEOCEAN, Eni’s selection of ABL for marine warranty survey services (MWS) for the second phase of the project, and Kotug International’s assignment for marine services.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Eni Group once again at the start of 2025. This partnership reflects our ongoing performance improvement and showcases our exceptional project execution capabilities and strong competitiveness in the market. It also highlights the high regard in which Hilong Offshore Engineering is held in the international high-end market,” stated Hilong Group.

According to the Chinese firm, these projects are distributed across countries and regions, such as Congo, Thailand, and Brunei, encompassing a wide range of activities within the offshore engineering sector, from new construction to decommissioning. This encapsulates basic design for offshore engineering, transportation and installation of offshore platforms, onshore-offshore connection and commissioning, and decommissioning of aging platforms.

“Looking ahead, we remain committed to enhancing our technological and management capabilities. Our goal is to steadily develop and provide engineering services that are safer, more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly for the international high-end offshore engineering market,” concluded Hilong Group.