The Ministry of Energy of Ivory Coast has signed an agreement with a consortium led by Total to develop a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) in the country by mid-2018.
The FSRU would have a capacity of 100 mcf/d (2.8 mcm/d, around 1 bcm/year), which could be ramped up to 500 mcf/d (14 mcm/d or 5.1 bcm/year). The cost of the project is estimated at US$200m. Total would be the operator of the project, to which Shell, Endeavor Energy, national oil company Petroci, CI-Energies, SOCAR and Golar LNG would take part.
Ivory Coast's growing economy (9%/year on average between 2000 and 2014) has fuelled a rapid growth in energy consumption (+5%/year) and in electricity demand (+6.9%/year). However, gas consumption has "only" increased by 1.7%/year since 2000, due to the lack of new domestic gas discoveries (all the production is consumed in the country and Ivory Coast doesn't import gas from neighbouring countries).
The country also plans to invest US$20bn over the next 15 years to meet energy demand. In the short term, Ivory Coast plans to invest nearly US$1bn in oil product pipelines and oil storage facilities (up to 1.5 mcm, i.e. around 1.2 Mt of oil storage capacity) to create the largest fuel hub in sub-Saharan Africa. Investment is estimated at FCFA 420bn (US$718m) for the storage project and at FCFA 150bn (US$257m) for the transport project.