Equatorial Guinea is currently in talks with potential buyers regarding pricing terms for production from the 2.2 million tonnes per year (tpy) Fortuna Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project.The West African country is eyeing Europe as its next market, as Asia remains its key LNG customer.

“We are seeing that the European market is becoming more attractive for the future than Asia,” Equatorial Guinea’s Energy minister Obiang Lima (photo) said.

The government is aiming for a break-even cost of about $6 to $7 per million British thermal units (MmBtu) for gas from the project supplied to Europe.“We are coming to the final phases of designating our off takers ... (but) one of the key criteria of this project that has not been decided yet is the fiscal terms that the government would provide to the project. The biggest advantage that we have in floating rather than onshore (projects) is that a lot of the development is not done in-country,” Lima added.

A final investment decision is expected to be made on the project by the end of this year, with completion scheduled for 2019.Equatorial Guinea's plans for a 2.2 million cbm oil terminal have been put aside as the country has inadequate means to fund the project.

The government is presently on the lookout for private investors to partner with on the project and major trading houses such as Gunvor and Socar, and Total have expressed their interest in partaking in the storage and shipping terminal, Reuters reports.

Anita Fatunji